Commentator Melanie McDonagh reflected in July on comments by the founder of Facebook, who said his social network can have the same benefits as church.
Writing in The Spectator, McDonagh said: ‘The object of going to church isn’t mental wellbeing, but it happens to be a side-product of ‘doing’ religion’.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had said that ‘Facebook could be to its users what churches are to congregations: it could help them feel part of ‘a more connected world’.
McDonagh wrote: ‘… it’s interesting that Zuckerberg identified the function of a church, specifically, as something that needs replicating. Churches were once the most obvious centre of any community, and at times of crisis, like after the Grenfell Tower fire, people still congregate there. But what’s now evident is that churches have other benefits. Specifically, churchgoing seems to have a bearing on the problem of mental health.’
She concluded: ‘When it comes to community, Mark Zuckerberg is right about the merits of going from online to offline. But churches have been providing all this stuff for ever: it’s odd, not to say, irritating, that Facebook is discovering their merits just as they are going out of fashion.’
