Keywords: Online religion; Digital Religion; Religion and the Internet.
Digital religion is a new issue, reflecting the transformations of religious life in relation to the development of the Internet and digital platforms1. The process of forming the concept of “digital religion”
With the explosion of the Internet and global digital platforms, religious life has undergone many changes. The number of people using services and participating in religious practices and ceremonies online has increased dramatically. Religious practices on the internet are demonstrating a growing trend towards religious devotion. The online space has become an environment for “reintroducing the spiritual world into a postmodern context”. Much like the world outside the screen, the Internet has created “a market of spiritual choices, “to the point where cyberspace resembles “sacred space”. This context has led to a new form in religious life: “Digital Religion”. This is a relatively new term, dating back over a decade, used to describe: “Individuals and religious groups engaging in digital media and emerging digital technologies”. Digital religion also reflects an understanding of how “religious expressions in people’s online and offline environments are becoming increasingly intertwined”. The emergence of digital religion stems from people beginning to “experiment with bringing religious concerns and rituals into the online space”. The emergence of digital religion stems from people beginning to “experiment with bringing religious concerns and rituals into the online space”.
Prior to the concept of “digital religion”, other terms existed to describe the expression and practice of religion in cyberspace, including: “Cyber-religion”, “online religion”, “virtual religion”.
Online religion is used to describe “expressions of worship, gatherings and religious communities that take place on online platforms”. This term is associated with the involvement of religion in the online space since the 1980s, when internet users brought their “spirituality” to online forums. By the 1990s, with the launch of the World Wide Web, online religious activities flourished, necessitating a field of study on the involvement of religion in cyberspace. In the 1990s, the terms “Internet” and “cyberspace” were often used interchangeably. Religions that engage in the internet environment are known as online religions, manifesting in diverse forms of worship, gatherings and rituals. But at that time, cyberspace was often seen as “another space, unrelated to the real lives of people, with new forms of communities and religious rituals envisioned through new Internet technologies and intermediary virtual environments”.
In the 2000s, terms such as “religion online”, “online religion” and “virtual community” emerged in religious research. These terms serve as more specific conceptual tools for “studying the ways in which religion is being practiced by participants in online environments”. According to Heidi A. Campbell, the concept of online religion offers new ways of exploring, hypothesizing, and understanding religion as it engages within new technological and cultural contexts. However, this concept has limitations, as it relates to the concepts of cyberspace and virtual space, often leading people to think “this is a flawed or erroneous form of religion”.
Subsequently, several researchs proposed the concepts of “online religion” and “religion in the online environment”. “Religion in the online environment” is seen as having the potential to empower members to reform rituals and transcend traditional religious legitimacy systems, as well as providing religious individuals with opportunities to overcome conventional limitations of time, space and geography. “Online religion” refers to a new form of religious belief and practice in life that is expressed in an online environment. Thus, the Internet has provided “a new social space for constructing images of contemporary spiritual society”. However, conceptual tools such as “online religion” and “religion in the online environment” still have limitations. Because the lines separating online/virtual religion from offline/real-life religion are becoming increasingly blurred, as they are blending together.
By the 2000s, thousands of websites existed, and emerging internet platforms like Facebook and Twitter provided people with a diverse range of religious expression experiences online. At this point, the term “internet religion” has shifted to “virtual religion”, referring to the spread and development of religion on the platform of the Internet and new digital spaces. Virtual religions also “evoke notions of virtual worlds, such as Second Life or online gaming platforms, without offline versions”. This concept aims to distinguish religion that takes place in the digital space or online platforms from religious practices in the offline space. However, the term “virtual religion” also has limitations because it is often only associated with virtual reality (VR) technology and online virtual environments, separate from the “real world” of religious communities.
The limitations of the above concepts highlight the need for further development of theories about religion in the internet space. In 2012, the term "digital religion" was used to describe the topic of several workshops on religious practices in cyberspace. Subsequently, the term became popular, serving as an effective conceptual tool for “exploring how religion is being practiced across digital platforms and is perceived to be connected to the cultural characteristics of life within an information-driven economy and society”. Digital religion is not just “a new label” to describe how people practice religion through internet technologies, but also an approach to studying the interaction between digital media and religion. This approach aims to clarify the nature of religion practiced online, reflecting the broader transformation and adaptation of religion in contemporary society. Digital religion is not entirely separate but rather interconnected, with online and offline religious practices intertwined.
2. Characteristics of the phenomenon of digital religion
Firstly, communities are interconnected networks. This characteristic reflects the function of communities in a technological society as dynamic and ever-changing networks of relationships. The digital religious community differs from the old understanding of community based on the boundaries of institutions and geography. The emergence of computer networks created a new space where individuals could use Internet platforms to build social connections and support systems for one another, forming a community of relationships among individuals. The fundamental characteristic of the interconnected communities of digital religions is that they are “constantly changing and fluid social networks”. At the same time, in the online environment, the influence of community and religious leaders shifts to the members. It is the members who create and control the religious experience as they see fit. This poses a challenge to the structure and authority of traditionally organized religious groups.
Secondly, there is the practice of convergence. This characteristic of digital religion allows digital users to access multiple sources, including both secular and traditional ones, in order to help them develop their religious ideas and practices. These religious understandings and practices take place simultaneously in both online and offline environments. The digital environment allows for a context where people can combine information and rituals from multiple sources beyond the purely traditional religious authority’s viewpoint. Users can personalize their religious beliefs, obtain and select information and rituals that represent them, and build their own online identity and community. Convergent practices show that religious practitioners in the digital environment access diverse sources from different contexts and use them to build and reinterpret their religious practices. The online space allows individuals to learn, explore, and receive religion from sources outside of traditional and familiar contexts. By “taking and selecting” the most valuable sources for their personal religious identity, digital religious practitioners have contributed to the creation of new religious rituals in the online environment.
Thirdly, multi-point reality. Multi-point reality is formed based on the fact that multiple churches and religious communities exist. The emergence of multi-point reality in digital space is driving the restructuring of traditional conceptions of religious communities - communities that were once based on close connections and organized structures rooted in locality and specific locations. Meanwhile, the multi-point reality of digital religion is not limited by geographical boundaries, but establishes churches and religious communities with meeting places that lack “physical walls”. These community relationships are also sustained and dependent on technological infrastructure, much like a multi-point community depends on technological infrastructure to keep geographically developed communities linked to its main or parent point. When multi-point communities seek to create an interrelated organizational structure, they bring technologically and traditionally intermediate communities into a single ecclesial community. t that time, the concept of multi-point reality also referred to the realization of participation in the world, including the collapse and integration of previously existing intermediate and physical spaces into a new whole. In digital religion, multi-point reality shares similarities and differences with convergent practice. Multi-point reality emphasizes how religious groups integrate online and offline contexts and spaces into a shared or communal religious experience. onvergent practices, on the other hand, emphasize how people combine and reinterpret religious information and rituals into a distinct set of spiritual practices and values. Digital media maintains and expands existing relationships with offline religious communities. In many cases, digital space and technology serve as fundamental sources for constructing spiritual life in a way that creates highly integrated and constantly interdependent rhythms. This means that practicing a religion can encompass a seamless and invisible flow between these digital spaces, creating a hybrid form of religious experience that blends online and offline. Multipoint reality highlights the fact that there are strong links between people’s attitudes, behaviors and practices in both online and offline environments.
Fourthly, identity is recounted. This characteristic refers to the way religious individuals use various sources from online and offline contexts to construct and reconstruct images of themselves and their religious experiences in daily life. It is through interaction in the online environment that participants can build personal religious identities that transcend the boundaries of traditional religious institutions. The digital environment enables individuals to gather and engage with diverse online and offline resources to tell their own story. This is particularly evident on digital platforms, especially among religious bloggers. Religious identity can also be expressed through the choice of religious apps and participation in religious groups on digital platforms. Online platforms enable individuals to express and present their personal spiritual identity. As a result, these platforms attract users to express religious issues in their personal lives private matters that are difficult to discuss in real-world environments such as work, school, even within the family. With the internet, individuals can express what they want, whenever they want and to anyone.
Fifthly, authenticating the experience. Authenticity here refers to the quality of authenticity or correctness. This is one of the characteristics that is often debated in the digital religious environment. Validation of experiences in digital religion refers to “an individual’s decision on how true or accurate the religious knowledge or practices they engage in online and offline are”. In the digital environment, people have new ways to assess and determine authenticity. Individual experiences and testimonies can transcend established norms or community boundaries in evaluating whether religious ideas and practices are authentic. Perceptions of authenticity are crucial to building a successful online religious community. Without a sense of authenticity, users will seek experiences with other groups. While much information, both true and false, is mixed together, the authenticity of the digital religion experience remains a matter of negotiation. In the internet age, anyone can post information online without any verification process, so many social media sites often contain fake news. Religious content is also a frequent subject of fake news, impacting believers. Therefore, those who receive information in the digital environment need to take action and find ways to verify the stories they receive. Therefore, authentic or fraudulent claims can be a creative way to either destroy or eliminate a community in the digital space.
Sixthly, power is shifting. This characteristic of digital religion highlights how online religious practices create new challenges and opportunities for traditional religious groups and leaders in the digital age. Digital media creates space for emerging religious influencers to appear online. Digital platforms like social media and blogs give people a space beyond the boundaries of their religious community or organization to talk about their religious beliefs and find like-minded followers. Power shifts are not just happening to community members who use digital media to gain more influence online. This is also true for religious leaders as they use digital media in their work to strengthen their position. When an individual already holds a position of authority offline, they can use digital media to amplify and expand their voice into new fields. Internet platforms have shifted attention away from established authority by allowing new voices to emerge. This shift could pose a challenge to those who have traditionally considered themselves the “true gatekeepers of a religious community”.
3. Conclusion
Digital religion is a new issue, reflecting the transformations in religious life in relation to the development of the Internet and digital platforms. The characteristics of digital religion show that it is a phenomenon that interacts closely with the expressions and practices of religion in the real world of human beings. Clearly, noteworthy features such as online communities, multi-point reality, convergent practices, individual identity, shifts in the exercise of authority and the verification of what constitutes the correct expression of religion are all highly significant aspects of religious life today.
References
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