How Christian parents can help their families navigate political turmoil

Andy Flannagan offers hope to Christian parents who are concerned about the impact of the culture wars on their children and young people

What do your teens and children think about politics? What are their views on immigration? Crime and policing? Welfare reform? If you think they don’t have views you might want to check again, many do and part of the reason for that is the extent to which recent events are being covered on social media, it’s everywhere - but who is producing the content and what angle are they taking? What our children think about recent events and where they get their information from is up there as one of the most important things Christian parents can attend to right now.

the struggle we face as Christian parents is helping our youth and children to see the dangers of the echo chambers that they might get sucked into online around these issues

It won’t have escaped your attention that discussions around politics have become increasingly tense and divisive in recent times. You’ll have also noted that comments and events have also become increasingly religious which is new, in England and Wales at least. Charlie Kirk was shot, and the ensuing comments have focused on his politics and his religion. In the UK, the Unite the Kingdom march saw patriotic and Christian symbols displayed together.

Part of the struggle we face as Christian parents is helping our youth and children to see the dangers of the echo chambers that they might get sucked into online around these issues. However, as soon as I say that we all know that what is true for them is just as much true for us. In all this, they and us have three interconnected problems: the technological, the political and the personal. In this and the next two articles we will unpack those and consider the solution that the gospel brings. Firstly then, the technological problem …

My thumb is so practised in the art of accessing information that my conscious mind no longer has to lead it

What is it that makes the online world of news and social media so addictive? Why am I ……