Abstract
The editors of Religion and Internet highlight the ubiquity of the digital communication media “landscape” that provides new forms of disembedded and fluid monitoring, new possibilities of questioning authorities and power structures, and a variety of new types of interactions. “Relnet or digital religion” affects religion and the sacred; so, they ask, “is computer-mediated religious communication a particular communication process whose object is what we conventionally call religion? Or is it a modern, independent form of religious expressiveness that finds its new-born status in the web and its particular language?” (p. 3). Either way, how does one analyze it, and what method(s) should be used?
Religion and Internet builds on the distinction between “religion online” and “online religion” (Helland), the latter being also conceived as “cyber-religion” which, for some, exists mainly online and stripped of traditional religious characteristics (Højsgaard). For others, however, the religion-technology nexus, encompassed by Campbell’s concept of “networked religion,” remains dynamic and bi-directional: “digital media and spaces are shaping and being shaped by religious practice” (Campbell) (p. 4). With the expansion of “virtual religious” websites, believers now find new opportunities “to practice their own faith at home; a sort of privatization of religion without eclipsing the sacred,” with activities in the digital world that often reflect the “real” world, “influenced by social change in ‘real life’” (pp. 4–5). Campbell’s “networked religion” framework (encompassing concepts of networked community, storied identity, shifting authority, convergent practice, and multisite reality) underpins a number of the contributions (pp. 5–6).
The collection contains twelve chapters. Emma Tomalin, Caroline Starkey, and Anna Halafoff, who explore the online activism and practice of the Buddhist women’s “web sphere” (pp. 13, 18, 21, 22, 24, 28, 29), pen the first chapter. They study two prominent organizations of “cyber sisters” (pp. 11, 29) (Sakyadhita and the Alliance for Bhikkhunîs) and show how “the traditional and modern are intertwined in global ultramodern Buddhism,” as a number of old divisions become “increasingly blurred and outdated” (p. 13), the cybersangha being “reflective of the diversity of Buddhism in the offline world” (p. 29). Tetske van Dun, Peter Versteeg, and Johan Roeland explore the meaning and consequences of the “virtualization” of online religious rituals, in this case, a Christian online retreat. They suggest that the “quality”, “realness”, and “authenticity of an online ritual mainly lies in the realm of experience”, and depends on the “framework of previous ritual experience acquired” in the real world. Therefore, “subjective interference” is essential to understand “the way the ritual changes through virtualization” (pp. 34–36). Daniel Enstedt turns to the “mediatisation” of personality and essence in online Enneagram teachings (“Sleepwalkers and Higher Selves”) and show how an online presence provides visibility to small, and at times very marginal, religious groups that they would not otherwise have.
The next five chapters focus on Christian traditions. Salvador Jimenez Murguia explores the evangelical Youvebeenleftbehind.com service (set up in 2008) for those destined to experience the “Tribulation found in Premillennialist doctrines.” Its service allows for a rationalization “about a relatively controversial interpretation of the New Testament” and the possibility of controlling future risks (pp. 79–80), while providing greater visibility to their “cyberrapture” (p. 66) discussions. Ping Huang and Shun-hing Chan study the empowering potential of social media for greater sexual minority inclusiveness, namely, homosexual Protestant communities in China. Not only can individuals make friends online, but they can also create a new type of public sphere where one can find “vital source of alternative information” and where community issues can be voiced.
The following three chapters examine the role of media, including Marshall McLuhan’s ideas that “the medium is the message” and of the “global village,” Manuel Castells’ “information technology revolution,” and Niklas Luhmann’s theory of “religion as communication.” Andrew P. Lynch explores the new “digital Catholicism,” notably its use of online media technologies for religious purposes and evangelization. He turns to the Vatican.va website that mirrors the “organizational arrangement of the real-world Church” (p. 97), with its “centralized bureaucracy and authority,” “organizational culture,” and “restricted flows of communication” (p. 110). Sławomir Mandes provides a Luhmannian communication analysis of the challenges the Internet raises for the Polish Catholic Church, notably with the renewal in the 1990s of a grass roots movement of lay Catholics for the enthronement of “Jesus as the King of Poland.” The Internet became a virtual space of tension between Catholic hierarchs and a charismatic priest, whose objectionable personal doctrinal interpretations were posted on various websites and YouTube channels, even proposing online activities, sermons, and daily broadcast of mass. These new forms of communication, accessible to anyone, undermined the authority of the Church, unable to counter, regulate, or discipline those who threatened its hierarchy and authority. Anna Neumaier focuses on the relationship between online religious interaction and offline involvement (such as church affiliation, practice, and belief) with a study on the reported use of online German-speaking Christian discussion boards (p. 132). Participants discussed the challenges posed by offline “destabilization religious worldviews and identities” (p. 142), with its “increasing restriction” (p. 143) on religion that is relegated to the “private sphere” (p. 142). However, digital media has some “implication for religiosity” (Luckmann): it appears to intensify and stabilize participants’ religious identity, as they interact online with like-minded religious individuals and “re-embed themselves in a religious community” (pp. 142–143).
The last four chapters deal with the Islamic tradition. Viviana Premazzi and Roberta Ricucci study the religious belonging of young, second-generation Muslims offline and online (on both Facebook and Twitter), who find a “new religious arena” (p. 158) where they can express their views more freely than offline through their civic engagement and their lives. Khalid Rhazzali applies a “netnography” (pp. 164, 166, 167, 169) (observation) for his study of conversion to Islam. He focuses on the online interaction that occurs during the conversion process for individuals who rely on the Web, and for those who provide them with online “advice and guidance” (p. 165). Chris Allen studies online groups, such as those on Facebook, where “individuals of similar values” (p. 196) can voice “opposition” (p. 195) that fosters and promotes discrimination, bigotry, and hate, and encourages others to do so, by focusing on the planning of a new mosque in Dudley in the central heartland of Britain. Finally, Franz Volker Greifenhagen concludes with a prolegomenon of sorts to a current pan-Canadian research project (to which he contributes) on the Canadian Muslim digital public sphere and the transformation of Muslim perceptions of identity, community, diversity and authority.
The contributions cover various regions of the world, a variety of religious groups (some very small), and a diversity of online activities, each providing some insight into the transformation of religious authority and into “how the Internet contributes to the construction of religious identities, supports new forms of community, highlights changing understandings of authority, encourages the mixing of traditional and new forms of social practice, and recognizes the interconnectedness between online and offline contexts,” although importantly, “online practices are often clearly embedded in the values or systems of offline culture” (Campbell) (p. 5). The contributions illustrate nicely both the theoretical issues and the methodological challenges encountered by scholars of networked religions and the ways in which their works can contribute new theoretical and methodological insights.