Hi, I'm Dee, and I'm a...

Date: 18 March 2009 23:11:26

I've been thinking a bit about definition. What it is we use to define ourselves. It has sprung to mind because in my twitter journeying (www.twitter.com/deeleea if you want to play along) I often pop through someone's tweets to read their short bio and get a bit of a feel for who they are. When you do this you see how people sum themselves up in 140 characters or less.

Here's mine,

Blogger, Photographer, Movable Type Enthusiast, Jazz Singer, Choir Director, Student of Life, Student of the Digital (USYD), Proud Sydneysider and Proud Kiwi.

The list is hierarchical, and would be in a different order for a different audience, but as my readers/tweeps are often technologically bent I start with the one that's going to grab them first. Well, a little bit... I mean, everyone's a blogger these days, and quite frankly seems like everyone's a photographer too... but I digress...

What's interesting to me is to see how many people put Christian in their Bio, and, put it first. I see this and think that Christian is a definition they have of themselves, just as some people's primary definition of themselves is Gay, another's is Parent, other's still is Dog Person or Holden Driver. We define ourselves not just according to what we believe, who we believe in or what we believe about ourselves, but the definition represents a wider community of like minded people and we define ourselves in relation to them as well.

And so, as I clearly am, a Christian, by my own confession and evidenced by the communities I belong to, both here on the Wibsite and in my membership of my church, in my circle of friends, and until recently in my workplace, you may feel inclined to as ask why I haven't included that fact in my bio (on twitter or on my blog).

In part, because there's a stigma about that word - Christian - that like it or not comes with a sense of, "one of THOSE" and it seems to have connected with it an expectation that I'm going to be narrow minded and bigoted. I am neither, as far as I know, and so I prefer the matter of my faith to be unveiled in conversation gradually rather than paraded as a badge I wear. I think this gives people the opportunity to like and appreciate me for me rather than have a pre-conceived idea of how I'll behave, react, or of what I'll say.

I suspect too there's an element of caution in putting Christian on my Twitter bio because it will invite many of the kinds of Christian followers whose tweets I'd be slightly embarrassed to have appear in my timeline. You know the kind, right? the ""HALLELUJAH for the Lord He reigns" no matter how crazy this culture and this world becomes!!! I've got VICTORY in Jesus!!!" kind of tweets.

It's easy enough to figure out from who I follow that I'm a Christian... @god, @judasmith @donmilleris, @erwinmcmanus, @philpringle and a large number of members of my church, some of whom do tweet in the above vernacular. But by and large, for me? I keep it sub-rosa until such a time as it's not going to make ridiculous waves or freak people out.

The thing is, is this a good thing?

(Please Discuss)