Religions are represented on theInternet in many ways. There are sites which attempt to cover all religions, traditions, and faiths, such asPatheos (which also provides a forum foratheism andHumanism),Religious Tolerance, andBeliefnet. There are also sites that are specific to a religious tradition. Many sites are discussion groups, others hosttheological debates, and some provide advice concerning religiousdoctrine. Some sites aim to provide a religious experience facilitatingprayer,meditation, orvirtualpilgrimages.[1][2][3] People also leverage search engines to investigate aspects of religion.[4] Some religious websites are translated into several languages. For example, JW.ORG features content in over 1,000 languages.[5]
There have been a number of attempts to create online Christian communities, usually supplementing, but occasionally attempting to replace, more traditional, brick and mortar Christian communities.[6] It is common for even moderate sizedChristian churches with only a few hundred members to have web sites to advertise themselves and communicate with their congregations. For example, Scott Thumma, a faculty associate at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research found that in theU.S. between 1998 and 2002, the ratio of churches with web sites went from 11 percent to 45 percent. Most sites concentrate on teaching and discussion.[7] Some experiment with virtual meetings in cyberspace, and attempt to incorporate teaching, prayer, worship and even music into the experience.[8][9] The i-church is the first Internet community to be fully recognised as anAnglican church.[10][11]
After being reassigned to thesinecurediocese ofPartenia (a majorAlgerian city, that was consumed by theSahara in the 5th century) byPope John Paul II in 1995 as punishment for his controversial views, Roman Catholic BishopJacques Gaillot set up a website for the "diocese without borders."[12]
The termsinternet church, online church, cyberchurch, and digital church refer to a wide variety of ways that Christian religious groups can use the internet to facilitate their religious activities, particularly prayer, discussion, preaching and worship services.[13] Theinternet has become a site for religious experience which has raised questions related toecclesiology.[14]
SomeChristian denominations insist that an online gathering is not a real substitute for meeting in person, for example, the Roman CatholicPontifical Council for Social Communications declared in 2002 that "the virtual reality of cyberspace cannot substitute for real interpersonal community, the incarnational reality of the sacraments and the liturgy, or the immediate and direct proclamation of the gospel", while acknowledging that the internet can still "enrich the religious lives of users".[15]There are various web sites that aim to cover all of theHindu religious traditions, including for example the Hindu Universe, which is maintained by theHindu Studies Council. The site includes Hindu scripture and commentaries of theRig Veda,Upanishads, theBhagvad Gita and the laws ofManu.[16]
In addition, there are a large number of web sites devoted to specific aspects of the Hindu tradition. For example, the major epics, theMahabharata and theRamayana, have web sites devoted to their study. There is a site devoted to theKumbh Mela pilgrimage, giving Internet users the opportunity to join the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who gather inAllahabad to bathe in theGanges. Sites like Saranam.com allow worshippers to order apuja at theHindu temple of their choosing and many pages have image ofdeities, which are thought to conveyDarshan in the same manner as temple figures. The followers ofSri Vaishnava,Swaminarayan Sampraday andDvaita Vedanta have web sites, and theInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness, also known as theHare Krishnas, have their own site, which includes a Hare Krishna Network.[17][18] Temples now webcastdarshan live on the internet. In fact, important events too are broadcast live on the internet. For example, theSwaminarayan Temple inCardiff broadcast its 25th anniversary celebrations live on the internet in 2007.[19]
Islamic sites fulfill a number of distinct roles, such as providing advice concerning religious doctrine, download daily prayers and for taking theshahadah over the Internet. For example, the Islam Page is a comprehensive Islamic web site, which links to a complete version of theQuran.[20] Sites such as the Islam-Online site, according to Gary Bunt of theUniversity of Wales, provide information about Islamic doctrine in addition to advice concerning individual problems including marriage, worship and Internet use.[21] In order to answer online questions, anImam or a team of religious scholars frequently provide afatwa. These are stored in databases, which allow online users to search for their specific query. Gary Bunt has commented this has the advantage of facilitating resolution to issues that are considered dangerous or embarrassing to raise within the domestic framework.[22]
Several websites and blogs cover Judaism and Jewish life on the web. Some websites argue a certain religious or political viewpoint, while some take a purely cultural or secular focus. Conservative,Modern Orthodox, post-denominational, Reform, secular, andHaredi Jews are involved in writingJ-blogs. Some J-bloggers, although religious in practice, use their blogs to discuss theological views which are skeptical or nonconformist. J-blogs fall into radical, liberal and conservative camps with respect to all Jewish communities across the world. Several blogs, such asCampusJ andJewschool, cover Jewish life on campus.[23][24][25]
The Internet has "shipped"Vodou via cyberspace, increasing its accessibility outside of a Haitian context as there is no central text to be shared.[26] Alexandra Boutros explains that while Vodou was formerly secret, it is now public, widespread, and available for consumption by any through the cyber world.[26] Her concern is that the shipping of Vodou has led Internet, much like popular culture, to be full of "voodoo that is not Vodou."[26] "Voodoo" is a spelling used to denote tropes of Vodou, the Haitian tradition, which perpetuate misunderstandings, lies, and stereotypes. As such, Boutros explains that online Vodou, as well as cyberspirituality in general, are not representations of "real religions in real places," but instead are their own "dynamic entity," and this is an important distinction to make when studying Vodou or any other religion and its online presence.[26]
Manynew religious movements have websites. A website of theChurch of Scientology, for example, allows visitors to take an onlinepersonality test (theOxford Capacity Analysis); however, to review the full results of this test, one has to make an appointment to meet a church representative in person. There has also been a series of legal battles—sometimes referred to asScientology versus the Internet—concerning the publishing of esoteric teachings such as the "space opera" and, more specifically,Xenu.[27]
According to Stephen O'Leary of theUniversity of Southern California, theFalun Gong's Internet awareness was an important factor in its ability to organize unauthorized demonstrations in thePeople's Republic of China. The group's leader,Li Hongzhi, was able to use the Internet to coordinate the movement, although he currently lives in New York.[28]
There are various religious movements that have used the Internet extensively and this has been studied by academics, in the field ofsociology of religion. Examples cited byAdam Possamai, of theUniversity of Western Sydney, includeJediism andMatrixism. Possamai uses the term 'hyper-real religion' to describe these religions mixed withpopular culture, arguing that they are part of the consumer logic oflate capitalism and are enhanced by the growing use of the internet.[29][30][31]
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David Chidester wrote in his 2005 bookAuthentic Fakes,[32] that "If it were possible to trace a genealogy of virtual religions on the Internet, it would probably begin withDiscordianism."[33] According to J. Christian Greer, this study was published just at the time Discordianism had transformed itself from aparody religion to anew religious movement.[32] When the Yahoo search engine categorized Discordianism as aparody religion, in May 2001 Discordians started an email campaign to get their religion reclassified. Three weeks after this protest was started, Yahoo moved Discordianism to "Entertainment—Religion—Humor", which some Discordians found more acceptable.[34] David G. Robertson writes in the 2016 bookFiction, Invention and Hyper-reality that:
[...] Discordians have also constructed a complex and unique cosmology and theology, and Discordianism has over time come to be considered as having genuine religious significance for many of its adherents. Thus Discordianism can no longer be considered a purely parodic religion.[35]