The false leveling of social media
The fact that we are all equal in Jesus Christ does not mean that some people do not have a station that we should respect.
Social media has provided a number of good things to society. But one of the negative impacts of social media is the leveling effect of having people be able to talk to and interact directly with authority in a way that was not possible twenty years ago. American society has always had a contumacious streak, but social media has exacerbated the problem and the disrespect for authority.
We speak to everyone as if he is a peer. But this is not how it should be. The President, the Governor and the Mayor are not our peers. They are the civil magistrate with authority over us and should be treated with respect as commanded in Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2:17. Older men are not our peers. They are elders who we should treat with respect, as God commands in Leviticus 19:32. There are many more examples I could cite. Different people have different stations and we should respect that station while considering our own with humility.
Yes, we are all equal in Jesus Christ, as the Apostle Paul teaches us in Galatians 3:28. This is self-evidently true. One of the most brilliant things about our Constitutional system of government in these United States is that we are all equal under the law. It took us a while to get there, but the promise was in our founding documents. This does not mean that some people do not have a station that we should respect. Do not substitute American political ideology for Christian theology.
Sadly, some of this is due to the behavior of the leaders themselves. When political leaders are crude and childish, they reduce respect for their office by showing they do not respect their own office. The performative cursing to prove "authenticity" is especially cringeworthy. Respect for authority must begin with those in authority by showing they understand that they have serious responsibility and they should set a good example for the people under their authority.
But that does not mean we should abandon our responsibility to respect those in authority over us, whether it be in the government, the church, or in society. I have personally failed in this area far too often, so I am writing this article to remind myself as much as making an argument in the public square. When we are interacting with a leader in the church, government or society, we should not be interacting as peers and we certainly should not be obscene. The fact that we are interacting on Facebook, X, BlueSky or Threads does not negate this obligation.