(RNS) — With a seemingly endless flood of social media content, creators and AI warnings, 2025 emerged as a year of skepticism and spectacle. People were glued to their phones without knowing exactly what they could trust. Oxford University Press’ word of the year is “rage-bait,” a term that aptly captures how the internet operated for many people, without predictions about when the trend might end.
Leading the charge in their respective corners of the internet and weaving their personal experiences with their brands, here are RNS’ picks for the top movers and shakers in the online faith sphere in 2025.
Ms. Rachel
From a YouTube channel created in 2019, originally titled “Songs for Littles,” the COVID-19 pandemic amplified the relevance of Ms. Rachel’s show, making it a popular resource for families seeking quality educational content for kids. Ms. Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, 43, is now gracing the cover of Glamour magazine as one of its 2025 Women of the Year. For the magazine’s awards event, she wore an upcycled dress embroidered with drawings by children in Gaza as a statement of advocacy, which she said is grounded in her Christian faith. She also has been named to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural committee.
Accurso has been outspoken since 2023 about children suffering in conflict zones as her educational content has gone mainstream through platforms like Netflix, where episodes expanding on the work she posted on YouTube began streaming worldwide in 2025. Her YouTube channel still exists, but now it has about 18 million subscribers and more than 13 billion views. She has said she launched the project with the help of her husband and creative partner, Aron Accurso — whom she met at a Unitarian Church in New York City — after struggling to find resources for their son who had a speech delay. In an interview with MovieGuide in May, she credited both her activism and moral clarity to her Christian faith.
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Tony Vara
President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign has brought renewed attention to the painful realities of family separation. After his mother was detained and deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Honduras, Gen Z TikTok creator Tony Vara, whose family is El Salvadoran, drew a massive audience (now nearing a million followers) into his family’s struggle. His emotional posts in the aftermath of his mother’s deportation went viral as he documented caring for his younger siblings and navigating life without her. On Dec. 3, a TikTok showing Vara walking through an airport with his 8-year-old brother as he prepared to send him to be with his mother in Honduras drew 6.2 million views.
Vara, 24, who posts under the handle @itonyvara, first gained traction on TikTok with cultural commentary and personal vlogs. Alongside documenting his experience this year, Vara has also spoken about his Christian faith and how it shapes his response to grief, activism and his newfound fame online. His growing platform has made him a prominent creator, putting a human face on a national debate.
@itonyvarareminder: inhumane deportations affect US citizens too😁❤️♬ original sound – tony vara
Erika Kirk
Erika Kirk, 37, has become one of the most-watched conservative figures on social media in 2025 after taking over as chairwoman and chief executive of Turning Point USA, the youth-oriented political nonprofit her late husband, Charlie Kirk, co-founded. Formerly Miss Arizona USA and host of the faith-based podcast “Midweek Rise Up,” Kirk has blended her religious convictions with her political agenda since her appointment in September, when the TPUSA board unanimously elected her to lead the organization after Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at a campus event.
Kirk, who was raised Catholic, is known for speaking about traditional family values and faith in Jesus Christ — themes that have resonated with her more than 7 million Instagram followers. Her audience in the past year has surged across platforms like Twitter and Facebook as her public profile has become hard to miss. Kirk, a mother of two, has used her influence to host events such as TPUSA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix this month, where political figures like Vice President JD Vance and cultural icons like rapper Nicki Minaj joined her onstage in calling for continued conservative engagement.
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Chef Tova
Tova Sterling, 28, is a Jewish culinary creator and cultural provocateur giving the faith-sphere an influencer it didn’t know it needed. With more than 300,000 followers and climbing on Instagram, she’s known for sharp, cinematic cooking videos in which she confidently wields a knife while telling bizarre stories from her life as she plates a beautiful meal. Her knife skills, humor and irreverent commentary about relationships and womanhood have kept a growing audience hungry for more.
Based in New York City, Sterling has also built a reputation offline as the host of Sinners Shabbat, a weekly Friday-night gathering that mixes burlesque performance with Shabbat ritual and elevated Jewish comfort food, drawing thousands of self-described “sinners” and the religiously curious. Tova’s influence is on the rise as she pushes the boundaries of how faith, culture and performance show up in real life whilst giving Jewish followers, and curious purveyors, a dynamic figure to watch.
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Heather Gay
Breaking out of the Bravo housewife mold, Heather Gay, 51, a beloved staple on “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” has become far more than a fan favorite. In 2025, she stepped into a new role as host and executive producer of “Surviving Mormonism with Heather Gay,” a three-part Bravo documentary that premiered in Sept. l and now streams on Peacock, where she vows to “uncover the dark history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” On “Real Housewives,” Gay is known and loved for being the honest, self-aware voice, using humor and vulnerability to share her experiences with Mormonism.
In her new series, Gay draws upon her personal story and interviews with former members, abuse survivors and former church leaders to expose contested practices tied to the church. This move expanded her influence beyond reality television and into more investigative and documentary-esque storytelling. Gay is also a New York Times bestselling author of “Bad Mormon,” co-founder of the Utah medical spa Beauty Lab + Laser, and lives in Utah with her three daughters.
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Robby Hoffman
Comedian and TV writer Robby Hoffman emerged into the spotlight this year as a breakout star, with a Primetime Emmy Award-nominated role in the HBO Max series “Hacks” and the recent release of her Netflix stand-up special, “Wake Up.” Born in Brooklyn, New York, as the seventh of 10 siblings in a Hasidic Jewish family, Hoffman’s autobiographical comedy frequently references her upbringing in the tight-knit religious community as she narrates her life as a queer woman who ultimately forged her own faith journey.
Hoffman, 36, has said she still identifies as “very Jewish,” and in interviews has joked that, if she weren’t a comedian, she would be “a rabbi of a mega-synagogue.” She also has drawn a wider mainstream audience through her marriage to “The Bachelorette” alumna Gabby Windey earlier this year.
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Ross Douthat
The 46-year-old New York Times columnist has been influential for nearly two decades through his writing at the intersection of religion, politics and culture. But in 2025, Douthat continued to move the needle with the launch of his podcast, “Interesting Times with Ross Douthat,” where he explores the ideas and personalities shaping the “new right.” Among the podcast’s most-discussed episodes were conversations with figures including Vice President JD Vance and Idaho pastor Doug Wilson, in which Douthat pressed guests on Christian nationalism, populism and the future of conservative identity.
A Catholic convert and political conservative, Douthat’s weekly columns and podcast episodes shared across platforms have placed him at the center of conversations about the new era of conservatism. This year, Douthat also published The New York Times bestselling book, “Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious.”
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Matt Bernstein
Matt Bernstein, or @mattxiv, is a 27-year-old content creator and makeup artist whose unique commentary on sociopolitical issues has garnered him a following of nearly 2 million followers on Instagram. A self-described “queer Jew with very long nails,” Bernstein posts collage-style infographics on current events, antisemitism, LGBTQ+ activism and generational politics. Since the war in Gaza began, Bernstein has been vocal about his anti-Zionist beliefs.
He is also the host of the podcast “A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein,” where he discusses left-wing politics and the internet. His posts and podcast episodes have been widely shared within activist and youth political communities, including by celebrities like Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande.
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Leana Deeb
Named one of TIME100’s Creators of 2025, Palestinian-Uruguayan Leana Deeb began posting videos in 2021 as a Muslim fitness and lifestyle influencer. But a few years later, she began wearing a hijab, deleted her previous content and reoriented her platform around modesty and well-being. This year, the 23-year-old has launched her first modest activewear collection with the popular workout wear brand Gymshark, featuring hijab-friendly designs.
Her content reaches more than 18 million followers across social media, including on Uplift You, her fitness and personal growth app. Deeb’s content in 2025 has spanned workout routines, modest styling tips and reflections on her religious practice, making her one of the most visible Muslim fitness creators in mainstream influencer culture.
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Jay Shetty
A former Hare Krishna devotee from London whose fame skyrocketed through his 2020 New York Times bestselling book “Think Like a Monk,” Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast exploded this year, earning him a spot on the Time100 Creators list. Speaking with personalities from Cardi B to Joe Biden, 38-year-old Shetty has guided his guests through discussions on everything from heartbreak to self-worth to life’s purpose from a Dharmic spiritual lens.
With more than 50 million followers across media platforms, Shetty recently took his podcast on a world tour across North America, Europe and the Middle East. Shetty is also the chief purpose officer of Calm, a chart-topping sleep and meditation app, and the co-founder of Juni, a health beverage brand.
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