Voting is going on for the 2008 Weblog Awards, and the top two contenders for "Best Religious Blog" are both Catholic priests-- and the mudslinging has begun!
I love the blogs of both Fr. Z and Fr. Longenecker, currently in first and second place, but I think my favorite blog in the running is "Conversion Diary" by Jennifer F, in fourth place. She's a beautiful writer who joined the Church the same day I did, Easter Vigil 2007. Of course the biggest Catholic blog of all is Mark Shea's, but he's not running this year since he's won in the past. Third place (as of now) is one I'm not familiar with, but it's a Catholic blog too. What's up with that? Protestants way outnumber Catholics in English-speaking countries; why are Catholics dominating the awards? Are the awards just not well-known in Protestant land? Do Catholics blog more? Do they discuss theology more because they have more of it to discuss? Maybe Catholics are more interested in talking about the situation of the Church in the world, since there are Catholics all over the world while most Protestant churches are independent or part of smaller denominations. Or maybe Catholics rely on blogging more because most Christian radio stations are Protestant (similar to the way conservative radio is big because liberals own the mainstream media). Or maybe ESL international traffic swells the Catholic numbers. Who knows?
3 comments:
Somethings we Catholics are really good at....
Honestly Rachel, and don't get offended, I think it's because Catholics are obsessed with their Catholic-ness. Every time I click a link from your blog to a Catholic blog I'm lost in a sea of terminology and praise for tradition, and am immediately bored. Protestants don't really tout their Protestant-ness in the same way. So...I think all the Catholic blogs get religious blog awards because other Catholics actually care about reading about their Catholic-ness, where as Protestants don't.
I wouldn't call someone obsessed just because he enjoys discussing subjects in which I take no interest.
There are many aspects of the Christian faith that seem peripheral to Protestants but are central for Catholics. I wasn't expecting Protestants to talk about those things, though. A religion blog could mean your blog, or any Christian blogging about his life and relationship with God, or posts for Christian college students/singles/marrieds with children, or a blog on the intersection of faith and politics, or a rundown of current affairs analyzed from a Christian perspective. I'm sure there's stuff like that out there and I was surprised more of it didn't turn up in the blog awards.
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