Christians Stop Dunking On Each Other!

I love the Internet, but there are parts of it I despise. Some corners of the web have had a profoundly negative influence on me. And that’s my fault. I kept scrolling and consuming the content when I should’ve just hit “Not Interested” and let the algorithm know I wasn’t here for it.

I believe technology is morally neutral. Like fire, it can burn your house down or brew you a good cup of coffee. It all depends on how it's used. Not everyone agrees with that. Some argue that certain technologies lean toward a particular moral direction because of their form or intended design. Take the sword, for example. Many say it’s inherently violent. I still believe it’s neutral, but that’s another rabbit hole.

The tone of online conversations has changed drastically over the past five years because of COVID, vaccines, Trump, and now tariffs. Maybe it’s always been bad, and the Internet just turned up the volume. I’m in my late thirties and can’t speak for all of history. But I’ve noticed the shift, and it hasn’t been for the better. What disheartens me most is how followers of Jesus are engaging online, especially through the “dunking” approach that shows up constantly on X. 

A post was going around yesterday that captured it perfectly. It was a GIF of a bigger guy swinging fists and smashing someone smaller. It’s a fitting picture of what so many online interactions have become, and church influencers are doing a ton of the dunking lately.

Someone shares a post, and then someone else reposts it to dunk on them publicly, and the crowd jumps in. It’s rarely about honest dialogue and more like a mob circling for sport. The worst is when people clip 30 seconds from a 45-minute sermon and use it as proof of error, without any context. The online crowd is ready to burn the person at the stake before they even understand what was actually said. Honestly, a lot of folks need a refresher on Hermeneutics 101.

I won’t name names, but you see it every week. Christian leaders quote someone’s post or clip a few seconds from a sermon, often misrepresenting their view, and then proceed to dunk on them for engagement. There are followers of Jesus in 2025 who do this full-time. All they do is tear into other Christians. It’s how they pay their mortgage. That’s nuts. I don’t think this is how Christians should disagree. Most platforms aren’t designed for nuance or actual understanding. Replies are short. Tone is easily misread. There’s no inflection, no context. Disagree, and you risk being tossed out of the groupthink of the moment. And what breaks my heart is knowing that non-believers are watching this unfold and thinking this is what critical thinking looks like in the Church.

Of course, disagreement is necessary. It’s how ideas grow and mature. Church history is full of periods when we drifted into bad theology and had to rediscover a biblical truth. We can’t just assume we are right. We need spaces to be challenged and figure out if what we believe is what the Bible teaches. We all have traditions that are traditions and not Biblical truth. Sometimes those traditions get too essential, and we need to rediscover what the Bible actually says. The problem is that everyone assumes they are correct, and you can’t engage in genuine dialogue today. Online discourse doesn’t help grow your understanding of a topic. We just like to argue. The medium and method of disagreement matter if you want to grow in your knowledge of a topic. But, public, performative dunking isn’t about growth, but about applause. Complex theological ideas get reduced to one-liners. And anyone who thinks differently is treated like a fool. It’s discouraging to see how fatalistic and tribal some Christian discourse has become.

This weekend, I saw a conversation about women pastors, which is always a landmine-filled topic in Christian circles. One side claimed there’s no scriptural support. The other tried to give historical and cultural context to what they believed the Bible said. But instead of genuine dialogue, it turned into another public fight. Thousands of non-churchgoers watched the slugfest, interpreting it as another example of how divided the Church is. And honestly? They’re not wrong. We are divided. Throwing grenades at each other in public isn’t helping anyone come back to church, let alone to Jesus. I think we fail to represent Jesus when we participate in this type of dunking dialogue.

We need fewer of these arguments clogging up public feeds and more of them happening in private messages. I appreciate long-form content because it gives room to explain. But short-form? It’s not helping us grow. We need less energy on who got dunked on and care more about our witnesses. These conversations should start privately, then move to public when both parties understand each other's perspectives better. 

Private conversations won’t always be possible, and long-form takes more effort. But I have to hope things can change. I know they can. I’ve participated in this behavior too, and I regret it. I’m sorry. I’m deciding to change.

So, Christians, let’s sound less like the angry crowd shouting, “Barabbas, Barabbas, Barabbas,” and more like Jesus in our online discourse. Disagreement in our faith should only be reserved for actual heresy. A lot of this online fighting is about minor things, and we’ve watered down what biblical heresy is with all the noise. There is so much yelling that the world no longer knows what we believe.

Let's agree to stop dunking on each other. Send more private messages and fewer public replies. Yes, dunking can be fun, but it’s not helping our witness to the world. After reading this post, I know this may generate a few Ja Morant dunks on me. I’ll try my best not to get posterized. I would rather get dunked on than not attempt to defend the basket. This is my attempt to defend what I think my faith should be like in the public forum.