When religion meets the internet: Cyberreligion and the secularization thesis

Iqbal, Asep Muhamad (2016) When religion meets the internet: Cyberreligion and the secularization thesis. Jurnal Komunikasi Islam, 6 (1). pp. 1-28. ISSN 2088-6314

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Abstract

This article examines the presence of cyberreligion, the worldwide increasing use of the internet for religious purposes, in which religion is migrating online as its strategies of adaptation and shaping a new environment. It aims to look at the phenomenon of religious migration to virtual world its possible implications for secularization thesis. The internet is a tool that serves the needs of religious communities, rather subvert their existence and development. The migration of religion to cyberworld has proved that religion not only survives in the face of modernization but also constantly transforms itself and becomes increasingly adaptive, hybrid and reflexive in a new environment. The article argues that the massive emergence of online religion serves a (another) counterpoint to the prediction of the end of religion in modern society as proposed by the proponents of secularization theory. It also claims that religious use of the internet among religion surfers has no significant impacts on the real world organized religions and their religious communal identity.

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