Guest Post: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters
With a vast sea of unique blogs across the online world ranging from cooking tips to travel memories to AI development, how can any blogging platform stand out among the rest? And are they effectively engaging their targeted audiences? Furthermore, how can a religious education blog help scholars and educators improve the ways in which we teach about religious traditions?
It should come as no surprise, given my present platform on Religion Matters, that I am a huge fan of blogs. As both a reader and a writer, I have had opportunities for learning, sharing my own voice, and building my network that I wouldn’t have had without the accessibility and innovative functionality of blogging. Some of my personal favorites include, but are not limited to, the LSE Religion and Global Society Blog and the work of Cohesion Strategy LLC, a business consulting agency that partners with nonprofit and philanthropic organizations working toward religious pluralism and social cohesion. Whether you are looking to publish your work as a columnist or eager to comment on the thoughtful writings of other professionals in your distinct field of interest, blogs create a unique space for virtual engagement.
The Value of Blogs
In addition, almost anyone with internet access can become a blogger. That’s why we have a multitude of platforms and writers to engage with. Ideally, however, blogs fill a need. They address questions people are curious about, they offer solutions to everyday problems, and they create community for those who seek it. Given these opportunities, a blog for educators and scholars of religious traditions makes perfect sense! Why wouldn’t we want to help people more effectively teach about world religions? Why wouldn’t we want to help build a more peaceful global community?
What Does Forbes Say?
Of course, it is incumbent upon bloggers to create content that will reach its intended audience and provide a useful resource. In 2021, Forbes published an article entitled Eight Reasons Blogging Is A Worthwhile Investment For Businesses. It seems fairly logical that a magazine company, which now thrives on its blog-like online content, would celebrate support for online blogging. Moreover, that particular post was written by the CEO of a blog management and content marketing firm, so there might be just a bit of bias present.
However, the article does offer a few insightful points for increasing our understanding about the purposes and benefits of blogging. For example, the author notes that blogs are highly visible to a large audience of internet users and can showcase a writer’s knowledge of a specific topic. Over time, such authors often establish themselves as authoritative resources. He also notes that blogging creates a unique space for networking and the further development of concepts and ideas. This is especially true when a blog gets virtually “shared,” thereby inspiring community comments and follow-up content — either by that author or others. The eight reasons outlined in the article are, as promised, written with a business mindset, but many of them can certainly be generalized to the pedagogy of religion.
Cohesion Strategy: A Closer Look
Let’s take a closer look at one of my favorite blogs, hosted by Cohesion Strategy LLC. Founder and Principal Allison Ralph, PhD. announced the start of her consulting firm in 2023 with the mission to partner with nonprofits and philanthropic organizations for the promotion of pluralistic approaches in America. In addition to a social media presence across a multitude of virtual platforms, Ralph set to work crafting a blog for Cohesion Strategy’s website.
Not only does she benefit from the “Eight Reasons” outlined in Forbes as a business, but her work reflects the mission of improving religious literacy and supporting other businesses seeking to do the same. While establishing her leadership in the niche space of religious pluralism and social cohesion, Ralph is also connecting with old and new clients, creating new social content, and driving traffic to her website.
One of Ralph’s posts, “Hope in the Broken Places,” highlights a person-to-person practice of pluralism that involves holding space for painful conversations across political divides. Another, “Philanthropy and the Black Church, Synagogue, and Mosque,” examines the importance of philanthropies who are partnering with Black religious communities.
The Religion Matters Community
That brings us, of course, to Religion Matters. In this space, we hope to connect with scholars and educators as we grapple with best practices for advancing religious literacy in K-12 and higher education. We do that by identifying educator resources, providing opportunities for connection and collaboration, and publishing blog posts submitted by our community. Is our website useful? We certainly hope so! More importantly, we hope you will join us in our efforts by becoming part of our blog community.
Standing out among the crowd and reaching a target audience is not always easy, but we believe the work we do is essential. WordPress.com estimates that 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages each month from sites generated through their website-building platform. The readers are there, and making one’s mark in the blogging world is certainly a worthwhile endeavor.
Our Religion Matters community is growing, day by day, and that growth inevitably spreads our mission and our content to a wider network of individuals who will contribute to further development in the future. We’re probably not the outlet for research on Viennese waltzes, but we are working as a team to reinforce our content as a trustworthy source for those in our religious studies and academic communities.
Our blog is just one of several components to our initiative here at Religion Matters, but it remains an integral piece of the puzzle for truly connecting with others in the religious literacy space. Our writers have never let us down in submitting thought-provoking articles that keep us inspired every day. If you think your work could help us on our mission, then please consider writing for us, too. In fact, go ahead and submit your pitch to Religion Matters today!
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