Cybersectarianism is the phenomenon ofnew religious movements and other groups using theInternet for text distribution, recruitment, andinformation sharing.
The term, as coined by political scientist Patricia M. Thornton at theUniversity of Oxford, describes "a unique hybrid form of politico-religious mobilization" adopted by a handful of syncreticqigong (气功) groups that emerged in the People's Republic ofChina (PRC) during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and were subjected to extreme repression following the crackdown against banned religious and spiritual organizations in 1999.
Cybersectarianism as an organizational form involves: "highly dispersed small groups of practitioners that may remain largely anonymous within the larger social context and operate in relative secrecy, while still linked remotely to a larger network of believers who share a set of practices and texts, and often a common devotion to a particular leader. Overseas supporters provide funding and support; domestic practitioners distribute tracts, participate in acts of resistance, and share information on the internal situation with outsiders. Collectively, members and practitioners of such sects construct viable virtual communities of faith, exchanging personal testimonies and engaging in collective study via email, on-line chat rooms and web-based message boards."[1]
Transnational Chinese cybersects include the group commonly known in the West asFalun Gong (法轮功),Zhong Gong (中华养生益智功), and the Taiwan-based group founded by SumaChing Hai, commonly referred to in the PRC asGuanyin Famen (观音法门), but rendered in English by the Ching Hai World Society as Quan Yin.[2] Some new transnational Protestant groups also subjected to persecution in the PRC, likeEastern Lightning, have likewise taken to the internet to ensure group survival, and taken on some of the characteristics of cybersects elsewhere.[3] Like the New Cyberreligious Movements (NCRMs) described by Karaflogka,[4] cybersect participants rely uponcomputer mediated communication (CMC) in their personal religious or spiritual practice, performing cyberpilgrimages, participating in cybermeditation sessions online, and/or cyberevangelism in third-party chatrooms.
Some cybersect members of groups, includingAum Shinrikyo andal Qaeda, engage in "repertoires of electronic contention,"[5] using websites and e-mail to mobilize participants for protest and contention, as well ashactivism (acts of electronic disruption) and evencyberterrorism[1] (acts of physical harm caused by the disruption of power grids, traffic control, and other systems of resource delivery and public safety).
More recently,Sunni- andShia-affiliated hackers have attacked and counter-attacked hundreds of websites in a vast struggle over cyberspace that has been characterized as an outbreak of cybersectarianism.[6] Alaeldin Maghaireh describes two principal types of cyber-sectarian conflict in Muslim cyberspace: "Cyber-Islamist Advocacy," which consists of "religious publications, debates, emails awareness, lectures and videos;" and "Islamist Hactivism," which involves "cyber attacks against other religious or non-religious websites."[7] Similarly,Dru C. Gladney describes how Muslim netizens in the Chinese province ofXinjiang have turned to the internet to explore and express their desires for independence with the broader, transnational Uyghur communities, culminating in what Gladney describes as a groundswell of "cyber-separatism."[8]
When taken to the airwaves and posted on the internet, divisive sectarian language among Catholic and Protestant residents of post-agreementNorthern Ireland has also been described as an outbreak of cybersectarianism byBallymena-bornBBC reporter, Declan Lawn, and others.[9][10][11] In a similar vein, the term is also commonly used to describe the internecine internet-based partisan splintering among various factions of theSocialist Party of America,[12][13] and among members of theCommunist League.There is some evidence to suggest that the heavy reliance of such groups on the internet, a medium that not only facilitates but also encourages user interactivity andpeer-to-peer information sharing, may present serious challenges to the maintenance of internal coherence and policing of orthodoxy by a central core of leaders.
Cultural theoristPaul Virilio likewise described theSan Diego–based UFO religious groupHeaven's Gate as a cybersect, due to the group's heavy reliance onCMC as a mode of communication prior to the group's 1997 collective suicide;[14] while Rita M. Hauck ofFort Hays University considers "cybersect" to be a new but widely used term that "implies cyborgs or cybernauts with a collaborative agenda.[15]