I found Wagner’s research into online communities and how they
interact with religion quite interesting. As a 21 year old in 2013 I use all
the forms of technology discussed by Wagner, never without my phone, always on
facebook. However, I have not been a part of an online community, the only
people I converse with online are the friends I already have, and so I used to
find the idea that someone could become so attached to a person or a group that
they had never met, quite strange. As Wagner points out this is the view many
scholars take, seeing online relationships and communities as not really connecting
us with anyone and pretty much value-less (128).
However, recently I have been watching a show on MTV called
“catfish”, a documentary series that profiles young Americans who have met
people online and formed romantic relationships with them, without meeting.
This has opened my eyes to how intense such online communication can be.
I have not really thought about online religion before, but I
can see from research that it is a huge trend. The amount of online religious
communities that are based on traditional religions was interesting to me. Many
religious authorities are against the growth of such communities for various
reasons, particularly that they believe online religion requires less effort
than face-to-face religion and that virtual contact shouldn’t be able to
replace human contact. However, there are others who see that online religious
communities are valuable to those in places where they perhaps cannot attend
services or read scripture themselves. I tend to agree with this sentiment.
Diane Winston, from the University of Southern California, also states that
research indicates people who participate in online religion are often also
involved in real-world places of worship and use the online world to further
develop their faith (Gina Ryder, 2011). The many different uses of online
religion make me think that it can be a very beneficial thing.
References:
Gina Ryder, “Will Online Communities Replace Church”, The
Christian Post 12/09/2011.
http://global.christianpost.com/news/will-online-communities-replace-church-55457/.
Rachel Wagner, "God Mobs: Virtually Religious community" in Godwired: Religion, Ritual and Virtual Reality (Abingdon: Routledge, 2011).
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