Tradition-Driven Religiosity on the Internet

Abstract

The evolution of the media environment and the expanding use of social media pose a question about how the public sphere has changed in the last decade and what standards churches and religious communities can refer to in order to thrive and be present. It is vital to see that the nature of mass communication is different from the way religious ideas are conveyed. Consequently, there is a constant threat that, if mass media report on religions and religious activities, even with the greatest possible neutrality, they can easily falsify them. This paper sets out to explore this paradox; we examine the social media activity of a tradition-driven religious community. This research focuses on particular phenomena that lead to general assumptions. Despite the fact that the online reality is not the primary space of the researched community, its activity has moved towards cyber space because of the diminishing presence of interpersonal and group relationships. This paper analyses this community’s Facebook presence by applying quantitative and qualitative methods.

Keywords

• reflexive modern religiosity
• mediatisation
• social media
• social media consumption
• tradition driven