HASith no less than 1.2 billion views on the TikTok application, #tiktokchretien is enjoying growing success. Young users of Christian denomination offer varied and very committed content, creating many debates. Teenagers, students, parents and even more recently priests are surfing on trending choreography, music and even controversies on the platform to bounce back on their accounts around their faith.
Érine is fifteen years old and will return to a high school in the Paris region in September. Present on TikTok for just a few months, the teenager has nevertheless accumulated nearly 30,000 subscribers and up to half a million views. “When people look at me at the restaurant because I pray before eating” or even “I’d really like to shout ‘Jesus loves you’ in the metro, but I dare not”…: his many videos have met with great success. His credo? Christian music and biblical messages. “I started in January, I wanted to promote little-known Christian music and share the love of Jesus. My account brings me joy and peace on a daily basis, I like to share my faith and to be able to help people who are looking for themselves, it helps me to grow in my faith, too, “says the teenager who aims to put on a big Christian concert one day at the Stade de France.
I can’t talk too much about my religion in middle school because it always gets messy.
Érine chose to talk only about her religion on TikTok. Her mother largely approves and lends herself to the game by shooting videos with her. “My mom is a pastor in an evangelical church, she completely agrees with my content, encourages me and guides me,” says Érine. Despite hatersoften from other denominations, Érine receives a lot of support, especially from other “Christian influencers”.
This community is a revelation for Joséphine, 14 years old. “I follow a lot of Christian content on the app and I too would have liked to make videos, I have lots of ideas around Jesus. But my parents don’t want me to post my face on social networks, ”laments the teenager from the Marseille region. Beyond the fun aspect, the application and its Christian content are an outlet for the loneliness that Josephine feels in her faith: “In my college, there are more Muslims than Christians, or so they say not too much and I don’t see myself asking everyone. So I can’t talk too much about my religion, because it always gets messy when you talk in depth about the Bible. Even though my friends know I’m a Christian and respect it, of course, it’s just that they don’t agree and there’s always a debate. »
Debate on the “gangs of veiled Christians”
There are also debates on TikTok and even friction within the young Christian community. “Earlier, I was shocked and now I am disappointed”, indignantly the influencer and founder of the brand We are from God Holyghetto, whose video around the war in Ukraine “When there is potentially a war but that you already knew it because Matthew 24: 6 [Évangile selon Matthieu, NDLR] had already caused a stir. Like others, the young woman is annoyed at the moment by “gangs of veiled Christians”.
“A lot of people pretend on the network and give a bad image of Christians, like those who say that the veil is compulsory. God created us with hair and he is a God of guidance, not prohibition! reacts Eva Desenne. At the age of 17, Eva is the most followed influencer of #tiktokchretien. Supported by her million subscribers and her presence on several social networks, including Instagram, the young girl has an unshakable faith and well-defined opinions. In depression, suffering from school phobia and violent anxiety attacks, Eva recounts what she calls an “encounter with God, which [l]’saved’ more than a year and a half ago. Present since the age of 14 on social networks where she met with success with hairstyles and sketches, Eva has been creating content around her faith for several months now: “I hesitated for a long time to talk about it on the networks and, when I did, I lost a lot of subscribers and suffered waves of hate because people didn’t understand my drastic change. But, in the end, I gained new subscribers in accordance with my messages, ”confides the young girl with her enthusiastic voice.
I am even offered to work with brands of sex toys! I want to center my tiktoks around God.
His positions are not unanimous. Formerly in a relationship with a daughter, Eva says that her encounter with God allowed her to open her eyes and that she now considers homosexuality a sin. “I am not homophobic, God tells us to love all people. I love homosexuals, I understand and respect them and will never harm or wish them harm. Simply, Jesus tells us that homosexuality is a sin and I believe it,” says Eva. Convinced of the existence of Christianophobia on TikTok, Eva evokes the thousands of insulting comments that she can receive and the debates around the different beliefs generated by her videos. Although Eva assures that she is not only interested in the money she can make from her influence, she is approached by many brands: “I am very careful that the partnerships are in line with my convictions, I already made a mistake by proposing a partnership which turned out to be dropshipping [un système de vente qui consiste à vendre plus cher des produits, souvent de qualité douteuse, précédemment achetés, NDLR] ! To say that I am even offered to work with brands of sex toys! Me, I want to focus my tiktoks around God and teach people to uninhibit and understand that they are not alone, ”claims Eva.
Her messages of peace and love, Eva wishes to apply them publicly: while Benjamin Ledig [jeune influenceur qui a fait polémique après avoir dansé sensuellement dans une église, NDLR] made headlines and suffered massive cyberbullying on the application, she publicly assured him of her support on social networks. “The Christians wished him terrible things, threatened him and that goes against God’s message which is love. A true Christian would never judge, I was like him before and denied God. I have defended him in videos by explaining that people who call themselves Christians and harass him are doing the opposite of what God says,” says Eva. Touched by this support, Benjamin Ledig subsequently contacted her and the two were able to discuss at length.
READ ALSOTwo teenagers cyberharassed after filming themselves in a church
“Digital Preachers”
Father Matthieu, Father Gaspard or Brother Paul-Adrien, the TikTok application is not just for Christian teenagers! Church members who join the social network are very successful. “We can be called digital preachers,” explains Brother Paul-Adrien, who is very present on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. “For my part, I am Dominican and therefore part of theordo praedicatorum, dedicated, therefore, to preaching. When my hierarchy knew that I was making YouTube videos, they made it my official mission and gave me two thirds of time dedicated to social networks. »
Observer, brother Paul-Adrien has a very critical eye on the #tiktokchretien, he admits having trouble being part of it: “I think it’s very good for young people to live their faith, but what strikes me in negative , it’s that these teenagers, who don’t have a lot of training or human experience, have very clear-cut opinions on the questions they are asked. TikTok teaches me humility, because after fifteen years of Bible studies and ten years of apostolate, 15-year-olds question my words and force me to come down from my pedestal. If he feels he has trouble finding the same success on TikTok as on YouTube, Brother Paul-Adrien recognizes that the #tiktokchretien teaches him a lot, especially about the expectations of young Christians today, and puts him in contact with the popular religion.
TikTok is a playground for me.Brother Paul-Adrien
“The Christian community on TikTok is waiting to know if we have the right to listen to music, wear a piercing or put on a Christian veil. This is not a Catholic way of thinking and I rather notice an influence of Islam or even evangelicalism. It is of course my job to answer them, but also to remind them that the Christian religion is a religion of freedom, says Brother Paul-Adrien. I observe a rather diffuse anti-Christian hatred, even if TikTok is for me a playground. For my part, I no longer read the comments, ”he confides.
Without any training in communication, Brother Paul Adrien is self-taught. The 41-year-old priest regularly renews himself on the application and has surrounded himself with a team of brothers who help him and proofread his scripts as well as a doctor of theology who verifies the veracity of the informative stories he publishes. “I think I’ve gotten too old for sketches that work on the app, I try to do cultural content, but it doesn’t work too well. What works are hyper-emotional tiktoks or clashes, which makes it hard for me to find my place, ”concludes the tiktok priest.
Every other week, Nora Bussigny deciphers the subjects that make young people react on social networks. In the company of teenagers and students with strong and divergent opinions, zoom in on a clash of opinions where progressivism is questioned by Generation Z.