Thoughts after one year of Rational Sheep

In which this scribe seeks reader input on puzzling questions about the future

AT SEA — This Substack project was born a year ago on March 1.

I had planned to wrote a post marking that day, but couldn’t do that because, well, March 1 vanished during our flight from the West Coast of the United States to Sydney, Australia.

Sorry about that.

At this point, I remain committed to the original goals of Rational Sheep, but I have ended up — to be rather blunt — writing about lots of subjects that I didn’t expect to write about here. And then there is the complex issue of the content that attracts the most readers. Hold that thought.

What is Rational Sheep about? The short answer is that this Substack project is about faith, family and the digital age (I also tend to use “screen culture” in that equation). Recently I asked the AI gods to take a shot at defining “Rational Sheep” and this is what I ended up — some bad answers that left me rather depressed. Then I hit the following, care of the AI engine created by Grok programmers hired by Elon Musk and company

And all the people said, “Amen.”

How has the project gone, so far? I don’t talk about that a lot, but at the one-year mark I will risk sharing a few specifics — followed by some thoughts as I look ahead. Danger: There is a tiny bit of talk here about things like subscriptions and money.

My goal was to have, at the end of 12 months, around 2,000 readers — with healthy numbers among clergy, teachers, writers and others in a position. to help parents, pastors, teachers and counselors to wrestle with the power of digital media in the daily lives of real people.

A few minutes ago, we had 2,124 people in the “free” subscription camp, receiving — during most weeks — two of my posts. We are nearing 3,700 “followers.”

What about the “paid” subscription option?

Well, folks who study institutions linked to religion often talk about the “80-20” rule — which teaches that about 20% of a group’s members end up donating the money (and time) that keeps things going. It’s a problematic term linked to some painful realities.

In the Substack world, the pros tell writers that we can expect about 15% of free readers to become “paid” readers. The “superstars,” usually bestselling authors or well-known voices linked to popular subjects, can do way better than that. At the low end, that number may be 10%, which has some religious implications.

At this point, Rational Sheep has 123 “paid” readers — about 6% of the readers. I have, as Substack experts suggest, been sending members of that small “paid” list special “paid” benefits — in my case two more posts a week. I have done some thinking about multi-media posts or live chats for that circle.

But I am having second thoughts. Why? Here are a few bullet points that will illustrate the puzzle that I see:

* When I post a “paid option” post, with only a preview sample of the post sent to all the other readers, this immediately leads a few readers (after one recent post it was 20) to cancel their “free option” subscriptions.

Why? I would appreciate some feedback and suggestions. Of course, I understand that readers are busy. Thus, requests for feedback often do not work. That’s Internet culture, right there.

* Meanwhile, I have seen no sign that “paid option” posts increase the number of people who choose to embrace “paid” subscriptions.

* If these facts are true for THIS project (as opposed to the writings of others), I have asked myself: Should I send all of my posts to everyone and hope that more people choose to, well, help keep the project going (of their own free will)?

Maybe I could do some fundraisers, from time to time. You know, kind of like public broadcasting — where the leaders do on-air appeals asking listeners to send donations to help fund programs that they already get “for free” (yes, other than a few of their tax dollars heading that direction).

Whenever I hear one of those on-air fundraising efforts, I keep expecting producers to play a recording (or even a live tremolo organ version) of the altar-call classic “Just As I Am (Without One Plea)” in the background to help ramp up the emotions.

* OK, but if I send all of my posts using the “free “list, thus exposing that material to many, many more readers, would some “paid” readers decide that there was no logical reason for them to remain, you know, “paid” readers?

As a “retired” journalist guy, I do need some income from a project in which I write four times a week and do a podcast. Trust me, I am VERY thankful for all of the readers of this project! I want this material to get into the hands of parents, pastors, teachers and counselors. That’s the goal. But there is a tension there — between wanting to reach the most readers, while also getting some support to keep the project going.

* A final question: What do Rational Sheep readers want to read (and maybe hear)?

It’s hard to tell. I do plan another anniversary post looking at the Top 10 or even Top 20 posts from the first year, in terms of “clicks” by individual readers. To my surprise, “entertainment” media posts are not always big winners. I am not surprised that hard-edged posts about, let’s say, the smartphone mental-health crisis do not produce big numbers. Then again, sometimes they do draw clicks. It’s another puzzle.

One other obvious reality: I have many, many Catholic readers.

Now, let me suggest that readers who have never read the Rational Sheep “overture” from a year ago do so as we enter the second year. This is why I do what I do.

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Expel from him (her) every evil and unclean spirit which hides and makes its lair in his (her) heart. Priest: The spirit of deceit, the spirit of evil, the spirit of idolatry and of every covetousness; the spirit of falsehood and of every uncleanness, which operates through the prompting of the devil. And make him (her) a reason-endowed sheep in the holy flock of Thy Christ, an honorable member of Thy Church, a consecrated vessel, a child of the light and an heir of Thy Kingdom, that having lived in accordance with Thy commandments, and preserved inviolate the seal, and kept his (her) garment undefiled, he (she) may receive the blessedness of the Saints in Thy Kingdom. (From the Orthodox baptism rite)

The name of this Substack project is “Rational Sheep.” I am told that, in the original Greek, that’s “probaton logikon” — but that’s above this mass-media professor’s paygrade. In some Orthodox Christian rites this is translated as “reason-endowed sheep,” but that doesn’t work very well in a headline.

The key is that these sheep can communicate, with some degree of reason, and they are following their Shepherd. For the purposes of this project we will assume that they can read and use devices with digital screens.

But let’s jump in a time machine, flash back to 1990, and consider the academic adventure that is at the heart of Rational Sheep. I am referring to my leap from a mainstream newspaper to Denver Seminary, where I worked with the late Haddon Robinson on a project (it failed, in the end) to study the many ways that mass-media — think movies, television, music, news, etc. — shape the environment in which pastors, counselors, church-planters, youth ministers and others work. My academic title was Communicator on Culture.

Early on, I set up a large bulletin board in the lobby outside the auditorium and main classrooms and began filling it with articles from magazines and newspapers. These clips pointed to trends in popular culture and news and that I thought seminary students and professors would need to see. Note: This was the cable-television age, but we knew (see George Gilder’s “Life After Television” in 1990) that the World Wide Web and hand-held screens loomed ahead.

One morning, I arrived for work and discovered that someone had destroyed the bulletin board, scattering push-pins and shredded articles all over the lobby. This person left no note and never told anyone at Denver Seminary why they did what they did (or this was not communicated to me). We took down the offensive board.

What was going on and what does this have to do with Rational Sheep?

In a tribute to Robison (in the book “The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching”) I contributed a chapter focusing on that mass-media literacy project. It contained the following classroom episode, which is long, but essential:

The Master of Divinity student was confused and angry. Why was it so important, he asked, to analyze news and entertainment trends? Everyone knows that the secular media are liberal and opposed to the church. So why spend so much classroom time talking about popular culture? After all, he said, he came to seminary to learn how to be a pastor. What did this media stuff have to do with that?

That was 1991 and, as far as we could tell, I was teaching the only core-curriculum seminary class about these realities in American and global culture. The goal was to prepare graduates to look for the role mass-media play in shaping the lives of the unchurched and, of course, people in pews.

Today? I have searched and it appears (let me know if I’m wrong) there are still zero core-curriculum seminary classes being offered on this topic.

Think about that. It’s kind of like sending missionaries into a foreign culture without asking them to learn its language, great myths, humor, the forces shaping public discourse and how ordinary people live their daily lives. Remember that Marshall McLuhan quote about fish not being able to see the water in which they swim? Mass media is the water surrounding believers and unbelievers swimming through this digital age.

Robinson and I were not arguing that everything in the tsunami of mass-media content was worthy of serious attention. Instead, our goal was to help believers learn how to recognize “signals” from mass culture that truly mattered.

So what is a “signal?" I define this as a single piece of media or popular culture focusing on a subject that is of vital interest to the church. It can be a newspaper article, a single episode of a television show, a compact disc, a movie, a new video, a best-selling book or some other item. The goal is to tune in a single worthy signal, out of the millions the media pour over us every day. Above all, preachers must learn to recognize when the media launch a major invasion into biblical territory.

Here at Rational Sheep, we will cut that down a bit: A “signal” is a piece of mass culture that raises an issue that clergy and the faithful cannot afford to ignore. That’s how I defined the term when teaching “Exegete the Culture” seminars during my years at Milligan College and Palm Beach Atlantic University.

My goal is to start spotting “signals,” once again, and point readers and listeners to media reports (and other resources) about them — with some of my own commentary about why they matter. Hold that thought.

Let me confess that I am not a natural essay writer who can pour his thoughts into a diary. I am reporter. Also, this new Substack project will not, as with the 20-year run with the GetReligion blog (massive archive is right here), be criticism focusing on journalism. That said, many “signals” appear in news and that will require discussing the journalism age in which we live (see my Religion & Liberty essay, “The Evolving Religion of Journalism”). My weekly “Crossroads” podcasts with Lutheran Public Radio will continue and readers will be able to access them through this Substack feed.

Also, let me stress that this will not be a political blog. However, it’s impossible to talk about mass-culture issues ranging from Disney culture to social-media addictions without raising “culture wars” issues that many will insist are about politics, as opposed to morality, doctrine and faith.

This will not be a newsletter that focuses on reviewing movies, television, popular music, video games and other forms of entertainment. But many important signals — even most — are linked to coverage of the entertainment industry.

This project is not about technology, alone, but parents and pastors cannot ignore powerful trends in digital technology. Family life after the iPhone is quite different than it was before Steve Jobs changed the world. There is no way to avoid discussing the reality that researchers call “screen culture.”

Will this feed be a diary full of personal reflections? Not really, but — let’s face it — I just turned 70 a few weeks ago and that will affect my life. Nothing makes a 70th birthday “special” like an emergency brain MRI (It was Bell’s Palsy, not a stroke). If I am able to bring “Exegete the Culture” back to a classroom, I can imagine the occasional lecture showing up here and on YouTube.

Many will ask if this is an “Orthodox” project, since I am an Orthodox layman. Well, it will be linked to my new work as a think-tank fellow and adjunct professor with Saint Constantine College. My faith is the lens through which I view all of this, especially my life as a parent and grandparent. But I will note that, after growing up as a Southern Baptist preacher’s kid, my roots are very important to me.

What can readers and listeners expect via Rational Sheep? My goal is to offer subscribers two “signals” a week, but travel may affect that from time to time. I want to do a Rational Sheep podcast once a week in which I read one of those “signal” posts — for those who prefer that format — and offer additional commentary. The plan is to do a live monthly Q&A chat, working with the Issues, Etc., team that produces “Crossroads,” that will then be available here and, who knows, maybe on YouTube. If we get enough questions (through the Issues call-in line and comments through Substack) we may do more. This Substack will, for some readers, be a convenient hub where they can find and help support my work on other platforms. …

In the first weeks, introductory posts will be free while we get our act together. There will be full texts of a few essays and commentaries from the Denver Seminary era.

In the meantime, look for the #RationalSheep hashtag on X via @tweetmattingly and @GetReligion. Ask questions. Spot typos. Help spot “signals.” Ponder what it would mean to live and worship as Rational Sheep.