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Religion in the Age of the Internet
Supervisor: Justin Glessner
Fall 2015
Jacob Dickey
Religious Studies Independent Study

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Introduction
The invention and implementation of mass media has undeniably effected modern
society in a number of ways and aspects. Here, I will examine the effect of internet has on
religious practitioners, particularly with the aspect of authority in their respective faith.
Religious authority in the current age has shifted away from the only religious officials to also
include the layperson. Media, specifically the internet, now has given the layperson some
autonomy in what they believe and practice. I will not be focusing on a singular faith, rather, I
will use examples from various major religions to provide evidence for my claim. The internet
has given a new space for people to practice their faith without a previously established
authority. Briefly at the end, I will touch on how this shift in power has effected the exact
definition of religion.
Religious Authority
Before I attempt to answer the question of how the internet affects religious authority,
there exists a need to clearly identify what specific form of authority is at play. Without
definition, there is a danger of failing to fully capture the complexity of the relationship
between the online and offline religious communities. Simply put, “Authority refers to one’s
ability to gain the trust and willing obedience of others” (Meyrowitz). Heidi Campbell in her
book Digital Religion, gives a more detailed description, dividing it into four aspects: Hierarchy,
Structure, Ideology, and Texts. Hierarchy refers to the perceptions of recognized leaders such as

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priests, rabbis, and imams. Structure involves the practitioner’s perceived community and
pattern of practice. In other words, who they connect with religiously and what actions or
rituals do they partake in to fulfill their faith. Ideology concerns the faith beliefs that are a
group’s qualifications for becoming apart of their shared identity. Lastly, texts simply refer to
the recognized holy teachings and scriptures of a group such as the Bible and Qur’an.
One thing to note is that the political constraint put on religion which demands that
citizens share the religion of the sovereignty has disappeared and become void of meaning. This
is no longer applicable in modern society and therefore not a source of religious authority.
Ultimately, what gives these four aspects power is popular opinion. Whatever belief has the
majority opinion is the most prevalent and therefore dominant. Traditional religious authority
heavily influences popular opinion, but as evident by the swaying beliefs due to emerging mass
media, it is not the only power. It seems as though popular opinion is ruled by the current
society. The internet has become apart of everyone’s daily life, religious or secular, and religion
has adapted to accommodate that fact; opposed to the notion of he internet adapting to
religion. People go online with a variety of motivations: to gather information, to search for
social cohesion, for identity experimentation, and even in search of spiritual motivations. There
is a change in all four aspects of religious authority, mainly concerning hierarchy, structure, and
ideology. This has additionally changed part of the definition of religion by changing the
practices and requirements thereof. Now, it is impossible for a religion to completely ban online
and still survive. The internet is apart of daily life and it must adapt to the current times.
Religion is about experience, not history. It holds traditions, but they are not a core value.

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Another aspect to keep in mind is that the effect on the internet on religious authority is
intertwined in very diverse social and political contexts. For example, Islamin China has
remained relatively traditional. The mosque is a male space and the Qur’an is traditionally
taught to men only. Whereas in Indonesia, women have played a central role in Islamic
revivalism. The cultures in which this religion is being expressed allow fundamentally different
regulations and qualifications. This can also be seen by the fact that London has more Internet
domains than the whole of Africa. The internet is obviously more prevalent in English life than it
is African. This means that it will have more of an effect on their religious practices. Scholarship
on this subject of cyber-religion only spans about ten years in total. This field of study is still in
its infancy and while it has made great strides so far, it must be emphasized that these strides
are largely taking place in the developed world and are restricted to major traditions deemed
significant by the Western scholars. Work in this field is in no way complete and is still in
progress. Although the work in this field has found pattern and trends, it cannot yet be taken as
wholly representative of the cyber-religious world and its various traditions with emerging
possibilities and new directions.
Innovations from the Internet
The internet has allowed a number of things that weren’t previously, but this is nothing
new in the development of mass media. Originally, religion was purely oral. With the invention
and implementation of paper, these traditions were subsequently written down. Now
knowledge storage and information retrieval, a new form of communication, has been

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introduced and religion must adapt to continue to thrive. The invention of paper has forced the
oral traditions of religions to comply and cooperate. Distinguished philosopher Herbert
Marshall McLuhan has classified history into three major periods: oral, writing/printing, and
electronic, each being characterized by its own forms of thinking and communicating. These
adapting forms of thought and communication play an important role in the development of
religious traditions. The progression and split of Christianity from Judaism, for example, can be
seen as stemming from the incorporation of written elements. The invention of the printing
press held a similar challenge to religion at the time. The Medieval Church had a monopoly over
religious information and therefore salvation. The printing press broke this stranglehold. It
bypassed the Church’s scribes and made the Bible and other religious material widely available
to the public. It allowed many more people to be reached and permitted them to have their
own bibles to read and interpret it their own way as previously, scriptures were only taught by
the traditional hierarchy. This new media allowed freedom of information and therefore
authority was lowered in traditional roles and raised in the lay population. This reconstructed
the religious institution as it somewhat undermined religious authority.
Internet is doing what newspapers, radio, and television has done in the past; it is a
continuation of the incorporation of mass media in everyday life. As Heidi Campbell explains,
“Since its emergence, the Internet has often been presented as a revolutionary tool,
transforming society in a myriad of ways, from how we do business, educate youth, perform
our daily tasks, and even live out our religious lives.” The internet is changing every aspect of
everyday life; religion isn’t any different from anything else that is being effected. Websites and
other forms of online communication are crucial for offering guidance relevant to people living

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in secular cultures. The same goes in religious cultures. It is also important to understand that
the internet is adding new means rather than replacing the old. New media simply adds to the
spectrum of forms of communication. Writing did not destroy oral discourse, but it changed the
function of speech and memory. The addition of a new communication medium to a culture
alters the functions, significance, and effects of previous forms. The impact of new media to a
culture is hard to comprehend. Material changes, such as an increase in price of a cup of coffee,
are concrete and conceivable. Whereas informational changes seem very abstract and puzzling.
The internet allows many things that were unimaginable at the time of conception of
religion. Democratization of knowledge, development of the notion of community, and
conception of new rituals and practices online pose challenges to traditional religious structures
of authority. The emergence of the internet not only increased public access to alternative
religious information, but also allows anyone to share rather than just to read. It empowers
people to contribute information as well as opinions and experiences to public conversations
and debates in online forums. Anyone can have their voices heard, no matter how deviant from
the standard. A growing number of web sites and chat rooms dedicated to a variety of faith-
related issues provide followers new ways to explore religious beliefs and experiences. Ideas
presented on the internet tend to be much less formal and more discursive, allowing more
discussion and innovation of thoughts. Many social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube
do not engage in the formal theological discourse as found in sermons. Rather, small snippets
of text and videos as well as hyperlinks to other sources have become the norm of social
interaction.

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These social interactions online are no longer bound by geography either. You can
connect with different people in various locations and cultures around the world, wherever
there is an internet connection. As stated before, this Is still somewhat limited to the locations,
mainly in developed countries, but theoretically the internet can connect any two people
regardless of location or background. For example, Islamic women from traditional China can
now connect and discuss beliefs with the Islamic revivalist women in Indonesia. This means that
people can talk to others with various backgrounds and opinions to establishing a dialogue
creating innovative thought. The ability to connect with those outside the traditional
community allows further discussion of theology to occur.
Communication and cultural practice are fundamentally intertwined. Peter Horsfield
states, “Every cultural practice is a communicative event. Every act of communication is a
cultural event.” Internet affects communication, therefore it also affects culture. One way it
does this is through the disassociation from cultural markers. This disconnect is the result of
religion moving into an otherwise neutral, secular, online space. Religion online separates it
from the culture it originated from, making it a product able to be marketed. In particular, this
separation of religious and cultural markers in an online diaspora allows people to partake in a
religious produce without first being familiar with the culture and traditions that produced it.
The potential for innovation, thus a challenge to traditional teachings, are maximized in this
diaspora. An example can be seen by the westernization of Buddhism. Western Buddhism is
fundamentally different than India, where it originated. The same effect can be observed in
Islamin the west and Christianity in traditionally Muslim countries such as Algeria. As Oliver Roy
puts it in his book Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways, “Successful religions

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all have an export formula.” Religions must separate, not necessarily abandon, their cultural
markers from religious markers. For export, religion must be removed of its culture as well as
its territorial and ethnic components. However, cultural markers sometimes can be seen as
exotic and attractive such as “French bakeries” or “Italian wine.” Hinduism is an example of a
territorialized religion that has been altered for export. In India, the role of the Ganges river and
the caste system are central. These fundamental aspects are overlooked or altered to export
and spread the religion worldwide. Although conversions due to this disassociation is not
statistically significant, it is significant symbolically. They break a taboo and subsequently help
threaten a religion’s social embededness. It’s not necessarily the prevalence of conversion, but
the present opportunity to when it was not previously that is noteworthy.
The emergence of the internet has also introduced new ways to worship and preform
ritual. There are numerous new websites and programs that allow followers to worship in new
ways. www.24-7prayer.com, for example, allows users to post prayers online for others to see.
If other users would like to express their support for a prayer, there is an option to “like” the
prayer by clicking a button labeled “amen.” There is even an option to attach hashtags to a
prayer so that others can search for certain prayers. Other websites such as
www.vipassana.com offer online video chat courses such as a 12-week course on meditation.
Pujas are also available online. When you enter www.spiritualpuja.com, the first thing you do is
click on an image of a temple to “enter” it. From here you can choose a god to pray to and
when you click on their image, a virtual shrine appears with recommended prayers. Above all,
ritual is simply an assertion of difference. Although it also has other religious purposes, the
backing motive is to be different and that can be accomplished online as it has been through

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these websites and many others. This can also be exampled by the neopagan vocabulary. When
praying for blessings, the wishes are emphasized and given power by uttering the phrase, “so
mote it be;” similar to the Christian and Jewish phrase, “amen.” The speech is not necessarily
declaring it a wish or giving it power, but it is simply apart of the tradition’s rituals.
Some organizations have used the internet as far as creating a new religion based
online. For example, www.chuchofreality.org identifies themselves as an internet based
religion. They see technological advancements as something to embrace and celebrate. They
founded the religion online so that their church would be in front of the entire world from the
very first day of conception. Traditionally, churches have started in the location of the founders
and have developed over many years as it spreads from region to region. The church of reality
uses the online sphere to shed traditional notions of time and space and inhabit this location
without limitations as their home. Obviously the internet has had a profound effect on
religiosity as it allows many new additions and alterations. Next I illustrate how these effects
have impacted the notion of religious authority.
Implications for Religious Authority
Offline religious officials are in a state of crisis. Religious organizations may no longer be
the main source of religious information, practice, or even truth for their own members. They
lost control of the flow of information and the use of sacred symbols. There is competition with
the internet for attention and authority. Some officials such as Orthodox rabbis in Israel have
issued bans regarding internet use for their members. However, this absence of online

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presence diminishes perceptions of relevance of faith in everyday existence. The internet is
deeply embedded in modern society, and now for a fraction of their day, everyone’s attention
is now being diverted to this online realm. Religious officials need to stay relevant online to
keep control offline. This incorporation of the internet into religion allows the officials to
sanctify this new social sphere. Many religious traditions have in fact been proactive in
advocating the internet as a sacred territory in order to both import traditional rituals online
and create new forms of devotion online. One of the first public demonstrations of this was in
1996 when Tibetan Buddhist monks performed a ceremony to place a blessing over cyberspace
using a tantric ritual. The idea of making cyberspace sacred allows religious officials to take a
position in this new realm and let it exist cooperatively with the offline realm.
It is vital to understand that online doesn’t replace offline, but simply alters it. It alters
various traditions differently. Christianity online, for example, simply provides a new context for
creating an unconventional community and theology and is still clearly connected to offline. In
an interview conducted by Heidi Campbell, a Christian interviewee described the online
Christian community as supplementing the offline church. They suggested that it is a good way
for newcomers to begin to understand the structure of the traditional church. Online
community was described as a bridge to the normal patterns of local church life. Increasingly,
cyber churches can be found in virtual environments, such as the simulation game Second Life.
In this game, people can create an avatar to explore a virtual world to do various actions,
including going to church services. The cyber Anglican Cathedral in the game seeks to offer an
authentic experience online, and, according to Campbell in a 2015 study, it draws around 400
participants to its many weekly services. They have gone to the extent to even develop official

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links with the offline Anglican Communion. This “networked community” helps cultivate unique
communication and socialization between individuals and institutions. Islamand Judaism have
slightly different approaches to the internet. Muslim teachers and leaders still come first and
foremost. They are respected and their opinions about the use of the internet are respected
and viewed as offering wisdom to the community. Their advice is not strictly adhered to, but it
is still valued. The Jewish interviewees seem to frame things in communal terms in Campbell’s
interviews. They didn’t place emphasize on religious authority as decision-makers, but rather
emphasized the idea of a community of one voice.
Although there have been many discussions about the effect of incorporating the
internet into religious traditions, claims about its potential blessings or harms have often been
exaggerated. Involvement of the internet has some obvious implications, but they aren’t as
extreme as believed to be. Religious sites frame authority in ways that may more often affirm
than challenge traditional sources of authority. It is more common for people to expand ideas
presented rather than challenging and replacing them. In fact, “bloggers are most likely to cite
texts as sources of authority and are more likely to affirm [offline] authority than to challenge
it” (Echols). The following paragraphs will explain how each aspect of religious authority has
been effected.
Hierarchy
In the time before the printing press, the religious community required learned scribes
and scholars who could understand and describe the scriptures through repetitive forms of
learning certain chosen lessons. Memorizing these revelations were essential for the survival of

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the religious community. The recitation was exact proof of devotion. This accounts for the
traditional significance of recitation and reliance on religious officials. In general, the freedom
and secularity of internet’s new cyber environment allows and may encourage practices and
discourses that bypass the authority of accepted religious institutions. Immigrating religious
rituals and relics online means followers now have the opportunity to reinterpret their context
and use. This transforms traditional practice in ways that may compete with religious
institutions offline.
Traditional religious hierarchies are the most affected aspect because they are self-
reaffirming. Before the internet, religious leaders largely controlled and directed discussions of
theology and orthodoxy. Anything that is in short supply or that requires a very special
encoding or decoding skill, such as religious information, is prone to be exploited by an elite
class that has the means and authority to decode it. “Knowledge access in itself is not enough
to justify authority. One must have more access than the other people in the situation”
(Meyrowitz). This privilege of protected knowledge is in part to preserve status. This can even
be seen in modern times as the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), until recently, was very
difficult for the average person to obtain. Same can be said about the codes put on auto parts
that need to be analyzed by the mechanic. With this unequal control over information, the
person in control is generally the one to initiate interactions with the others. It was nearly
impossible for someone to challenge the teachings of the elite.
However, in the age of the internet, there has been a distinct shift in how people receive
their religious information. Inversely to protected knowledge, something that is very accessible
to the public tends to democratize a society. The modern practitioner needs not to seek council

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through the local church. They can find meaning through the plentiful information and opinions
produced from a simple Google search. Mobile technologies also now allow people to use their
phones to instantly fact-check the teachings of their clergymen. The internet facilitates
information access and free-thinking. Exploiting the same principle, Martin Luther progressed
the Protestant Reformation by encouraging personal reading and interpretation of the Bible.
Structure
Most notably, the internet connects anyone and everyone who is using it. It also allows
new forms of practice and ritual that weren’t available or possible previously. People can now
take advantage of computers and smart phones to preform various religious tasks in a new
way. Online users can build social connections and foster relationships that are unconstrained
by time and space. This means that, rather than living in a singular static religious community,
modern followers can live in emerging fluid and highly personalized religious social networks,
allowing different relationships to form. Therefore, it expands the religious community that one
can be apart of. It is now possible to be connected with and share ideals with people outside
your immediate surroundings with various divergent backgrounds and cultures. With these
abundant possible connections, it is easier to find people you agree with online rather in the
local community; online allows a separated, like-minded community apart from traditional
constraints. Sharing new interpretations of religious ideas and symbols, an environment is
created allowing a community to be together yet simultaneously and separately live out their
religious lives. “What I was getting online from the other email posts was such an

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encouragement and such a different perspective than what we are seeing here locally”
(Campbell Interview, 1999). The broad consequence of this is that people are diverted away
from membership and identity within a singular community and toward membership and
identification with a variety of different and specific communities. As mentioned previously,
this is supplementary and does not replace traditional religious community. Obviously
communal involvement and loyalty are still possible, but it is no longer a necessary element of
the general religious expression or experience. Psychological motivations for a belonging to a
group hasn’t necessarily changed, but belonging can now be expressed in different ways. In his
studies, Stephen O’Leary discovered followed an online neopagan community that constitutes
something close to an actual neopagan congregation. They gather together regularly to worship
even though they have never seen each other in person. This online group even holds rituals
and rites of passages online.
Technology has an ability to alter individual and communal religious practices as they
are brought online. The internet is a technological landscape, able to revolutionize religious
expression and understanding (Campbell). Groups like the online neopagans and other
scripture studies, prayer groups, and cyber churches reinvent religious exercises and practices.
For example, death rituals have been affected by the internet in a substantial way. When
someone dies, their online presence stays; their accounts, comments, and contributions remain
on the internet. These can be key for the survivors of the deceased to remember and continue
to live through them. A good example of this is of a renowned philosopher Rajneesh, now
popularly known online as Osho. Osho passed away in in 1990 but still holds a strong online
presence through his organization. The Osho website contains hundreds of hours of talks and

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225 books. Because of this incredible amount of continuously uploaded content, many people
are unaware that Osho is no longer alive. The internet has allowed his image and message to
continue on after death. There are numerous rituals that have been brought online over the
years. Many have adapted to the internet and some still have not. The internet is still relatively
new and, as the popular phrase goes, necessity is the mother of invention. If online rituals
haven’t developed to a certain extent, it may simply be because there hasn’t been a need for it
yet.
Ideology
Internet has allowed people’s ideals to spread out in the spectrum of religiosity. More
opinions, easier access to them, and less traditional authority allow other beliefs to prevail
other than those appropriated by religious officials. New varying opinions widen the religious
spectrum, therefore making it more acceptable to believe slightly varied things and still be
considered apart of the collective identity of their sect or denomination. This makes the
definition of that group to become a little more ambiguous. Before mass media, access to a
group’s territory was the primary means of incorporation into the group. Now that religion has
introduced itself to the online territory, anyone online can identify with any group. For
example, someone could attend a Baptist Christian church and also be an active member on a
nondenominational Christian website. They have connections with people from various
Christian backgrounds both online and offline and may consider their affiliation as more fluid
and less constricted by a particular location and history. If this person were to move homes, it is

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not guaranteed this person will necessarily join another Baptist Christian church. Subsequently,
a once small and unified group may divide into factions after an introduction of many new
members. Increasingly religious identities are tied to personal networks through the internet,
rather than to local religious communities bound by geography and family ties. “As social
information-systems merge or divide, so will group identities” (Meyrowitz).
As discussed before, the internet offers an alternative space to discuss what religious
leaders teach in church. Members can now reinterpret the claims made through their own
theological lenses. This allows the legitimacy of leader’s claims to be discussed rather than just
to take it directly as fact. This new challenge to traditional teachings allow new movements,
such as gay and lesbian Muslim groups for example, to flourish with religious support. Around
these new movements there have been a number of websites constructed to offer advice,
much of which is innovative and supportive rather than conservative. Although LGBT
movements have been around before the internet, the freedom of information and freedom
from traditional practices have allowed new ideas and interpretations of teachings and
scriptures to form and gain authority to support the cause.
Followers have the ability to seek answers to questions without having to go through
traditional gatekeepers or interpreters of information. This poses a problem for religious
officials as the answers that followers conclude to might not be the same answer they would
have given. Followers can justify whatever belief that pleases them. One result of this new
ability is that there is a competition over who has authority to speak for the collective faith.
These struggles are different in the various religions. For example, Islamand Judaism
traditionally have master interpreters that release information to the masses. Teachers now

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have to prove their credentials to the members by proclaiming what is and is not compatible
with the Shari ‘a or Halakah. The more definitive and radical the interpretation, the more
prestige is associated with that teacher. This creates a constant negotiation between
interpreters for the faith creating new beliefs. It is clear that followers embrace the internet
and include both online and offline in constructing their faith. Yet it seems as though local
religious structures are hesitant and, in some cases, unwilling to recognize online as equal part
representative of their collective community of faith.
Conversely, Christianity sees the internet more as facilitating and encouraging a globally
shared Christian identity. Members have a greater understanding of the “global body” of their
faith which includes online and the local church. This not only benefits the individual members,
but also the local church now has freedom of information to help understand the various
histories and common practices of the global church. Here, opposed to Islamand Judaism, a
shared identity is acknowledged and studied rather than creating a new identity that locally
competes for authority. Membership in this community is based on personal connections and
relationships rather than official affiliations. The internet has been used as a tool by this
organization to help refine who is a part of the church and what the church represents.
Connecting the online and offline communities and their religious ideologies lets the fullness of
the Christian community can be actualized and experienced.
Texts

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Religious texts are the authority least affected by the emergence of the online sphere.
The internet has allowed anyone’s ideas and opinions be shared with the world through social
media sites, blogs, chat rooms, and other websites. The approval of these posts from other
practitioners makes them authoritative to their belief in some way. Although nothing will be
more authoritative that religious scriptures, they are no longer the only sources of religious
information. Many interpretations can be found online and they can be found and chosen to
reinforce a certain ideology desired by the practitioner. This is a large distinction from, for
example, the time when religious canons were being compiled. Religious officials chose specific
texts to read and follow and others to disregard as unauthentic. In modern times, all texts
regardless of author is authentic in presenting new innovative ideas and beliefs to followers.
Online sources for official religious texts also frequently have popular unofficial interpretations
linked to the verses. Websites like www.biblehub.com provide commentaries for every chapter
or verse displayed. This allows followers to read primary religious texts and immediately get
various interpretations for insight to decide their own belief.
Complications of the Definition of Religion
The internet has had a couple of implications for religion as a whole. One is that the
excess of religious material online has created a competition for attention and loyalty. As Heidi
Campbell further explains, “This religious assembling of religious meaning from multiple
sources and contexts in a global society has been described by some scholars as syncretism, the

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mixing or overlapping of multiple traditions, or hybridization, combining ideologies from
different contexts such as belief with commodification and consumerism.” This hybridization
also implies that traditional religious culture can be transposed on actions and objects
previously considered nonreligious. This has the consequence of adding to yet diluting the
significance of religious voice and symbols. With all of this religious material online and the
public sphere, there becomes a religious competition between traditions, sects, or
denominations. Mass media, and in particular the internet, is appealing to the marketing
approach by wrapping religion into “packages” or “services” that appeals to the wide audience
(Hoover). Congregations exist in a religious marketplace that compete with one another for
attention and membership.
The main change brought by the internet is that now religion is more about experience
rather than traditional identity and belonging. As explained, the cyberspace is a new safe
environment without any precious inherited constraints. Without any native legitimacy or
authority, personal choice becomes significant. Practitioners are utilizing the internet to satisfy
all aspects of their own religious needs. The freedom over religious artifacts enables individuals
to pursue religious knowledge that benefits and encourages the particular chosen theme that
pleases them. This means that religion has subsequently shifted from belonging to meaning.
The definition of religion has adapted to new ways of general religious practice. Tradition is
what originally defined religious identity and brought people together. Now, less stress has
been placed on the importance of traditional ways due to the overwhelming presence of
online. This has shifted the focus on experience rather than identity.

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The oral time period was composed of closed societies with high independence and a
lack of individuality. Practitioners in these oral cultures have an experience where everyone’s
senses live in harmony. Membership in congregations were dependent on compliance of
tradition. There were steps and directions that were to be followed to comply and ensure the
proper and accepted experience. The invention of writing and printing and therefore the break
from total reliance on oral communication allows people to become more introspective,
rational, and individualistic (Meyrowitz). Internet continues this trend of personalization by
providing new methods and possibilities to construct personal religious identities, especially for
those who lack the opportunities to do so in the offline world. As mentioned before,
expressions of individually constructed identities online are not separate from their identity
outside the internet and should not be considered as such.
Change in authority warrants changes in the guidelines and requirements of religious
practices. Religion is allowing things now it previously hasn’t. This again changes the very
purpose and definition of religion and possibly infers that it is transition to something
completely different. “Religious freedom is not only an abstract thought: it helps religion to
evolve” (Roy). It seems as though religion is turning into a philosophy; no longer is it a means of
socialization into a group, but rather something to apply to guide your own life. The internet
has facilitated an end to a familiar means of religious worship as mandatory and a beginning of
a new kind of worship in a form where no one can reasonably predict or control.
With these newly allowed practices, a question arises if they produce the same
experience or are as authentic as the traditional means. Ultimately, it is up to the individual
practitioner to decide that. Authority and therefore the final say of religion has left the hands of

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officials. There is no set way one should feel while practicing their religion; everyone has their
own purpose. Doris Jakobsson has studied the social interactions in virtual worlds. She has
concluded that virtual worlds are as real as the physical world. “They are filled with real people
interacting with each other evoking real emotions and leading to real consequences,” she
explains. “There are no fixed boundaries between the virtual and physical arenas that make up
a participant’s lifeworld.” For example, worshippers who cannot find their way to their religious
institution for services can simultaneously pray alongside their fellow congregation members
through their smart phones, with confidence that other worshipers are doing the same thing on
the other end. "When I do pray in real time with them, I have a sense of a large, international
community praying together. It's pretty powerful," claims Darleen Pryds, an associate professor
of Christian spirituality and medieval history at the Franciscan School of Theology in California.
However, the change in church attendance isn’t the bottom line because religion is a much
more complex thing. The internet changes how people relate to each other and that’s
ultimately what religion is concerned with. “The variables are want and can. The can –
actualized though technology – is out of control. Our souls have become what we make of
them” (Zaleski).

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