How are the internet and religion connected? 9-18-17
September 18, 2017
Many factors have affected religious affiliation in the U.S. in recent decades, an obvious result being the slide in membership of Mainline Protestant churches.
But what role has the ubiquitous internet played in all of this? How many people go online for spiritual resources or sustenance? Is the internet, in fact, the major driver of changes in America's religious landscape now?
Well, maybe not, suggests a new study from Baylor University.
A press release describing the study says that "most Americans report they never use it to find religious or spiritual content, and most never use it to share religious views.
"That holds true regardless of religious tradition, said Baylor University sociologists, who recently presented the latest survey findings at the Religion Newswriters Association's annual conference.
"'Even the most religious typically refrain from using the Internet to proselytize, but Evangelicals and Black Protestants are the most likely to share their religious views online,'" said Baylor sociologist Paul McClure.
I acknowledge that because I write about religion, I rely on many internet sources for various kinds of faith-based information and news.
But my own life of faith also is connected to internet use in ways that seem to run against the grain of the Baylor study, and yet I don't feel particularly unusual in the way I use the internet.
For instance, if I miss a sermon at my church, I can and do go online to our congregation's website and watch a recorded video version of it. That's using the internet.
Similarly, my church has an app that I have on my iPad and smartphone that lets me use a directory of church members to find a phone number or e-mail address, in addition to letting me find out what time this or that event is happening. That's using the internet.
Besides this blog, I also occasionally share other faith-based information on such social network sites as Facebook. Recently, for instance, I've posted information about an upcoming event sponsored by the Dialogue Institute Southwest, a Muslim-based organization, and I posted a photo from the recent 25th anniversary dinner of Friends of Sacred Structures. That's using the internet.
I also keep the "YouVersion" app of the Bible on my iPad and cell phone and sometimes use that app in a Bible study I help to lead. That, too, obviously, is using the internet.
Well, there are other things to check out in the Baylor survey. And I admit I may be an outlier in terms of ways in which the internet connects with my own religious affiliation. But somehow I have the feeling that there are lots of other folks like me who also use the internet fairly regularly for religious information.
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WAS GOD TICKED OFF AGAIN?
Some superstitious people saw God's wrath displayed in Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. This Salon piece is a welcome and necessary statement against such nonsense. Just stop with the God-uses-storms-to-punish people narrative. If that's your God, I prefer not to know such a deity.
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