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Internet and Cyber Environments

The Internet is a term used to describe the vast array of wires and computer connections people access when they log on to a computer and navigate though websites or access their e-mail. While the word Internet is what most people use to identify the World Wide Web (WWW), it represents much more than one application. It has been defined as the network of all networks, providing the infrastructure that allows computers around the world to communicate with one another. The Internet hosts technology that allows users to interact in chat rooms, conduct database searches, and send instant messages to their friends.

Cyberspace is another word often synonymous with the Internet. It denotes a "virtual" world where technology and fantasy meet beyond the user's computer screen. William Gibson, in his science fiction novel Neuromancer (1984), used the term cyberspace to describe the digital realm the story's hero enters when he connects a computer directly into his brain. As "virtual-reality grid space," cyberspace becomes a somewhat mystical realm where people do not simply use technology; they become part of the computer network.

Cyberspace and the Internet have been described as a new frontier. This is a space that allows people to engage with each other and with information in new ways, as the Internet is seen to facilitate a transition between the real and the virtual. The idea of moving between spaces can be found in the prefix "cyber," rooted in the Greek word for steersman or pilot, someone who guides others from one point to another. Cyber environments are computer-created spaces representing a realm made of digital images, icons and texts. The movement between the "real" or offline and the online environment is facilitated by Internet technology. Thus the Internet becomes a tool that shapes both the space and the journey.

The Internet is used in many ways, as an information source, a discourse tool, a sphere for identity construction and a communication forum. Yet amongst its numerous uses it is also increasingly being used as a religious space, providing people connection with spiritual information, activities and like-minded believers. For over two decades the Internet has been a space where spiritual rituals are conducted and traditional religious beliefs discussed.

Emergence of Religion Online
Religious use of the Internet can be traced back to the early 1980s when religious computer enthusiasts began to explore ways the Internet could be used to communicate about issues of faith. The first religious-orientated online group was the Usenet "net.religion" discussion list, a forum dedicated to dialogue on religion, ethics, and the "moral implications of human actions" (Ciolek 2004). It steadily grew until the mid-1980s when it split into the hierarchies of "alt.philosophy," "alt.religion," "soc.culture," "soc.religion" and "talk.religion" during a reconfiguration of Usenet. Throughout the 1980s, other religious computer hobbyists and programmers formed various online groups dedicated to their specific religions, such as the first Christian e-mail newsletter "United Methodist Information," and the "net.religion.jewish" Usenet group.

A key event for religion and the Internet occurred in 1986 when a memorial service was conducted online in remembrance of the U.S. space shuttle Challenger, which exploded soon after takeoff. Organized on the Unison network discussion board, it involved a liturgy of Christian prayers, scripture, and meditation followed by a "coffee hour" designed to allow individuals to post reactions to the tragedy. This online service, "demonstrated the power of the computer medium to unite a community in a time of crisis beyond the limits of geography or denomination" (Lochhead 1997, 52). While religion had always been about communication, the Internet was recognized as potentially offering unique and vibrant opportunities for traditional religious expression.

Throughout the 1990s, more religious groups and mailing lists emerged online such as Ecunet, an ecumenical Christian e-mail listserve (www.ecunet.org), H-Judaic (www.h-net.org/~judaic/), and BuddhaNet (www.buddhanet.net). Another notable first was the establishment of The First Church of Cyberspace (www.godweb.org) in 1992, a "virtual" Christian congregation created by American Presbyterians to be the first nondenominational online church. By the publication of <i>Time</i> magazine's special issue on religion online in 1996, dozens of religious websites and online resources could be found: from the first monastic website, Monastery of Christ in the Desert (www.christdesert.org) to the first Islamic e-periodical, Renaissance: A Monthly Islamic Journal (www.renaissance.com.pk) and the establishment of the Virtual Memorial Garden tribute to people and pets (catless.ncl.ac.uk/vmg/). The article "Finding God on the Web" (Chama 1996) proved significant, demonstrating the mass media's recognition that the Internet was being used and cultivated as a spiritual space.

Numerous expressions of religion online have continued to emerge, including cybertemples, online rituals, religious online communities and e-vangelism. The Internet provides religious practitioners new opportunities to explore religious beliefs and experiences through a growing number of websites, chat rooms, and e-mail discussion groups dedicated to a variety of faith related issues. Some online religious seekers chose to cultivate traditional religions in a new context. Connection hub websites such as Crosswalk (www.crosswalk.com) provide Christians with access to online bible study tools and various interactive devotional or fellowship groups. Others experiment with new forms of religion, altering and adapting ancient beliefs to this digital environment. Ancient religions, such as Wicca, and new religions unique to the Internet such as technopaganism (neo-paganism adapted and celebrated in a technological context) have found homes online. Experiments in inter-religious networking can also be found such as Beliefnet, (www.Beliefnet.org), a "multi-faith e-community," which offers thoughts for the day from the Dalai Lama, inspirational screensavers, and access to sacred text from different faith traditions. Religion online gives spiritual seekers the opportunity to explore diverse forms of religion easily.

Cyberchurches and Cybertemples
Cyberchurches and cybertemples are unique forms of religious Internet use. These are online environments where electronically linked groups aim to reproduce in some aspects of conventional church or temple life. While they are often in the form of websites, they differ from the thousands of "real world" churches or temples represented online though webpages. These entities exist solely on the Internet and have no equivalent structure offline. Hundreds of these online worship spaces exist. Cyberchurches and cybertemples provide online resources for religious devotion such as providing e-mails of daily religious reading or hosting archives of recordings of real audio/video sermons. Others offer bulletin board services (BBSs) that allow people to post spiritual questions or prayer requests. Cybertemples, or cyber-cathedrals, are often websites designed using the language and images of a traditional building that provide visitors a framework to navigate. They can include such features as "chapels" for prayer and reflection, a "nave" where people can meet and interact and a "scriptorium" housing online religious texts and other resources.

They have been referred to as churches without walls; examples include the often-cited First Church of Cyberspace or newer experiments that have received much media attention such as the Church of Fools (www.shipoffools.com/church). The Church of Fools was the UK's first web-based 3D church, allowing an online congregation to attend weekly services in a multi-user environment. The site enabled participation through computer avatars that can join in hymn singing and communicate synchronously with others logged on. Within its first 24 hours online, the church had 41,000 visitors and raised much discussion in the international press about the implication of online church for organized religion. While the weekly gatherings have ceased, the church still offers online parishioners the opportunity to drop in and visit the sanctuary or crypt and interact with others.

Online Rituals
The Internet can also be used as a sacramental space, being set apart as a space for spiritual ritual. Many religious traditions have been proactive in cultivating the Internet as a sacred sphere. One of the first demonstrations of this was in 1996 when Tibetan monks based in New York performed a special ceremony and ritual to bless cyberspace for use in Buddhist religious practices. The monastery's website describes this stating:
In using the Internet we noticed the Net breeds both positive and negative behaviors, reflecting the very human nature of we who use it. In this sense it became apparent that the space known as cyberspace was very appropriate for a tantric spiritual blessing-to help purify how it is used and the 'results' it yields (The Blessings of Cyberspace, www.namgyal.org/blessing.html).
During the thirty-minute ceremony monks chanted while "envisioning space as cyberspace, the networked realms of computers."

Other religious groups have also sanctified the Internet as a religious cyber environment. Brenda Brasher in her survey of online religion offers numerous examples of online rituals such as a cyber-seder, an online celebration of Passover that helps Jewish people re-engage with their faith in the privacy of their own homes. Brasher argues that by invigorating the concepts of sacred time, presence, and spiritual experience, religion online can allows people to see the religious cultural heritage of many faiths and thus can contribute to interfaith understanding. Common rituals include cyber-pilgrimages, whether they be to virtual shrines of a Catholic saints such as Mary (hometown.aol.com/theBVMPage/) or the Japanese Culture Club's Shinto virtual shrine (www.asahi-jc.com/shrine.htm). Other cyber-pilgrimages involve online visits to traditional pilgrimage spots as Virtual Jerusalem (www.virtualjerusalem.com) enables Jews to explore cultural and religious information on Judaism or even "email a Prayer" to be placed in the cracks of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

By using IRC software (internet relay chat, which allows multiple users to log on to the same "channel" simultaneously and hold typed group conversations) or chat rooms, religious Internet users can also participate in online prayer meetings. In many cases users meet in another online forum, but then choose to gather weekly at a specific time for moderated prayers. A study of prayer meetings in a multi-user virtual-reality environment found that although online prayer meetings are not the same as conventional prayer services, they reproduce some essential features of conventional church life "albeit in novel ways" (Schroeder, Heather, and Lee 1998). These examples illustrate the diverse ways religious leaders and practitioners around the world have attempted to duplicate traditional expressions of religious practice online.

Online Religious Communities
Online religious communities are groups that facilitate interactions with believers who are separated by geography, but share some sort of spiritual connection or conviction. Some online communities are created intentionally by a church or denomination. These can be formed through a website and may employ RealAudio/Video technologies, attempting to create electronic congregations similar to attempts made by televangelists to construct television congregations of faithful viewers.

Other communities are formed at a grassroots level by individuals rather than institutions. These often emerge as people find others online while searching to become part of a group conversation on a specified topic. Online religious communities congregate around an issue of faith, from a general topic of mysticism or spiritual disciplines to a specific focus on beliefs like the gift of prophecy or religious affiliation, such as Anglican or Baptist. While many websites refer to themselves as online communities, most provide interaction with hypertext and images only. Online religious communities are interactive groups, facilitating two-way interaction through various computer technologies such as e-mail or IRC.

No matter what technology is used, online religious communities revolve around common themes: experience, interaction, and connection. Members select the community they wish to join based on the type of experience they are looking for. The strength of the connection is based on the affinity an individual feels for the group or topic. Several in-depth studies have been conducted on the character and consequences of the online religious community on a member's ideas of religiosity considering different traditions, from Christianity to Paganism (Campbell 2005; Linderman and Lövheim 2003). These studies investigate how member's participation in text-based online environments influenced their definition of religious identity, individually and communally. In each case, research found that the Internet provides a way to re-examine traditional understandings of religious participation by facilitating engagement between people of shared beliefs or religious experiences who would have normally been separated due to geography or time. For some of these members, online community life was perceived as more vibrant than that which they experience in their face-to-face religious community. For others the Internet provided a tool to test and solidify the personal religious narratives related to their faith and practices. Community online remains a popular religious use of the Internet.

Online Witnessing (E-vangelism)
Besides challenging ideas of what it means to gather as a church or religious community, the Internet is changing the ways people communicate ideas of faith. A movement in witnessing online, often referred to as "e-vangelism," has emerged on the Internet. Various books and online resources have been created to provide guidance in this activity. Online witnessing focuses on presenting a purposeful religious presence in cyberspace through a variety of means, through websites, in chat rooms and on e-mail lists. While in some cases, this is being promoted in a top-down manner, with religious organizations encouraging these activities and providing resources, in many instances it is individual Internet-savvy religious practitioners undertaking these tasks.

One of the first organizations to describe the Internet as a potential "mission field" was Gospel Communication Network (Gospelcom, www.gospelcom.net). Launched in1995, its goal was to "provoke people to think deeply about the nature of God" by "saturating Cyberspace with the greatest news of all." Gospelcom provides webpage space, set-up services, and technological support for Christian ministries such as the Billy Graham Center (www.gospelcom.net/bgc/) and the International Bible Society (www.gospelcom.net/ibs/). Other Christian e-vangelism resource pages have surfaced providing instructions and training for those looking for strategies for witnessing. Brigada's Online Web Evangelism Guide (www.brigada.org/today/articles/web-evangelism.htm) offers suggestions on creating web environments directed towards non-Christians and "introduce them to Christ." Other websites are designed as interactive tracts, such as Who is Jesus? (www.ccci.org/whoisjesus?) presenting an apologetics argument about the person of Jesus Christ.

Andrew Carega's book E-vangelism: Sharing the Gospel in Cyberspace (1999) addresses issues raised by doing "surf evangelism in online conferences" or through visiting web sites. He advocates online missionaries be fluent in the language of technology as well as being aware and sensitive to this new culture of the Internet before venturing into cyberspace. Yet e-vangelism is not just an Evangelical or Protestant phenomenon. E-vangelism has been given official sanctioning and support by the Catholic Church in an official Vatican online document (Pontifical Council for Social Communications 2002) and in a book by Catholic educators presenting a theology of ministry for the Internet (Zukowski and Babin 2002). Using the Internet as a tool for proselytizing is also found amongst other religious communities. One interesting example is how some sectors of Ultra-Orthodox Judaism have developed websites as tools to reach out to secular Jews, examples being Chabad.org (www.chabad.org/) or Shofar News (www.shofar.net/site/index.asp). Many creative uses of the Internet for missionary activities continue to surface online.

Studying Networked Religion
In the mid-1990s, religion online began to catch the attention of many researchers and religious practitioners, yielding diverse reactions and methodologies. Religious Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) researchers attempted to describe and investigate the Internet as a new realm to engage the religious. Research investigating the Internet as a spiritual space has taken many different directions. These include looking at the general phenomenon of cyber-religion (Brasher 2001), commenting on religious ethics and virtual reality (Houston 1998), considering how Internet technology reconnects people with spiritual beliefs (Cobb 1998; Wertheim 2000), exploring adaptations of traditional religious practices online (Bunt 2000; Zaleski 1997) and identifying new religious expressions (Davis 1998). A range of religious critiques of the Internet have been produced from strong critiques (Brooke 1997) and enthusiastic advocacy (Dixon 1997) to reflective approaches of addressing both the benefits and weaknesses of Internet technology (Schultze 2002).

In the twenty-first century, religious CMC research is beginning to be considered as a serious field of inquiry. Some early explorations specifically focused on categorizing, defining and interpreting the phenomenon of religion online. Hadden and Cowan's Religion on the Internet-Research Prospects and Promise (2000) offered the first critical survey of religion online, addressing different theoretical approaches to studying the phenomena of religion including work on new religious movements, traditional religious organizations, and cults. This included Helland's work (2000) and a popular distinction that has been employed by many researchers: religion-online (importing traditional forms of religion online) and online-religion (adapting religion to create new forms of networked spiritual interactions).

The Barna Research Group and the Pew Internet and American Life Project have also produced significant reports on trends related to online religious users. Barna's Cyberchurch Report (2001) asserted an estimated 100 million Americans at that time used the Internet for religious or spiritual experiences, with common activities including listening to archived religious teaching, reading online "devotionals" and buying religious products online. Similarly Pew surveys showed in 2000 (Larsen) that 21 percent of Internet users had already looked for religious or spiritual information online; this rose to over 30 percent in their 2004 study (Hoover, Clark, and Rainie 2004). Pew's 2001 Cyberfaith report also observed the most popular activities of "religion surfers" online were solitary ones used to supplement offline religious involvement (Larsen 2001).

Increasingly studies of religion online are asking questions that concern not just the phenomenon of religion online, but how practices within a specific online community context may point to larger cultural shifts in our information-based society. Religious CMC studies are tackling issues such as religious authority online, the process of identity construction, the redefining of traditional roles, and community networking. Discussions of online ethics taking place in religious context also seek to address larger issues of social trust, authenticity, and moral obligation online (Wolf 2003). More in-depth, systematic studies of religious use of the Internet continue to emerge, raising the profile of religious CMC studies, offering innovative methodologies and critical reflection on online culture as a whole (Dawson and Cowan 2004). These add to larger discussions about how the Internet is becoming embedded in our everyday lives and changing the ways people see others and interact in the world.

Challenges of Online Religion
For some the thought of practicing religion online can be theologically problematic. Practicing religion in a "disembodied" medium challenges many people's image of what it means to be part of a church or religious community. However, the fact remains that the Internet is increasingly being used as a space to seek out traditional religion or create new forms of community and practice. Those who fear a mass exodus from the pews by those practicing religions through a screen should realize that while Internet and online churches are useful for some things, such as encouraging social interaction and building relationships, they lack other qualities people value, such as face-to-face interaction and embodied worship experiences such as communion. This is supported by research on Internet use such as Katz and Rice's Social Consequences of the Internet in which they state that the Internet "does not supplant other communication forms, but rather supplements them" (2002, 329) in many types of social organizations, including religious groups. They also found Internet use appears to encourage and stimulate overall social interaction in these context.

Religion online is different from being involved in an offline faith community, yet it does not need to be seen as disconnected from a person's daily spiritual practice. Practicing religion online-whether in a cyberchurch, online prayer meeting, or seeking spiritual information online-simply represents one arena for individuals to express their overall religious life, albeit in a novel format.

— Heidi Campbell

Further Reading

Barna Research Group. (2001). More Americans are seeking Net-based faith experiences. Retrieved June 2, 2004, from http://www.barna.org/cgibin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=90&Reference=D

Brasher, B. (2001). Give me that online religion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Brooke, T. (1997). Virtual gods. Eugene, OR: Harvest House.

Bunt, G. (2000). Virtually Islamic: Computer-mediated communication and cyber Islamic environments. Lampeter, UK: University of Wales Press.

Campbell, H. (2003). A review of religious computer-mediated communication research. In S. Marriage & J. Mitchell (Eds.), Mediating religion: Conversations in media, culture and religion (pp. 213-228). Edinburgh, UK: T & T Clark/Continuum.

Campbell, H. (2005). Exploring religious community online: We are one in the network. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Carega, A. (1999). E-vangelism: Sharing the Gospel in cyberspace. Lafayette: Vital Issues Press.

Cobb, J. (1998). Cybergrace: The search for God in the digital world. New York: Crown Publishers.

Ciolek, T. M. (2004). Online religion: The Internet and religion. In H. Bidgoli (Ed.), The Internet Encyclopedia (Vol. 2, pp. 798-811). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Chama, J. R. C. (1996, 16 December). Finding God on the Web. Time, 149 (1), 52-59.

Dawson, L, & Cowan, D. (Eds.). (2004). Religion online: Finding faith on the Internet. New York: Routledge.

Davis, E. (1998). Techngnosis. New York: Random House.

Dixon, P. (1997). Cyberchurch, Christianity and the Internet. Eastborne, UK: Kingsway Publications.

Gibson, W. (1984). Neuromancer. New York: Ace Book.

Hadden, J. K., & Cowan, D. E. (2000). Religion on the Internet: Research prospects and promises. New York: JAI Press.

Helland, C. (2000). Online-religion/religion-online and virtual communitas. In J. K. Hadden & D. E. Cowan (Eds.), Religion on the Internet: Research prospects and promises (pp. 205-223). New York: JAI Press.

Hoover, S., Clark, L. S., & Rainie, L. (2004, April 7). Faith Online: 64 percent of wired Americans have used the Internet for spiritual or religious information. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved June 2, 2004, from http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=119

Houston, G. (1998). Virtual morality. Leicester, UK: Apollos.

Larsen, E. (2000, December 20). Wired churches, wired temples: Taking congregations and missions into cyberspace. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved June 2, 2004, from http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=28

Larsen, E. (2001, December 23). CyberFaith: How Americans pursue religion online. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved June 2, 2004, from http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=53

Linderman, A., & Lövheim, M. (2003). Internet and religion: The making of meaning, identity and community through computer mediated communication. In S. Marriage & J. Mitchell (Eds.), Mediating religion: Conversations in media, culture and religion (pp. 229-240). Edinburgh, UK: T & T Clark/Continuum.

Lochhead, D. (1997). Shifting realities: Information technology and the church. Geneva, Switzerland: WCC Publications.

Nightmare, M. M. (2001). Witchcraft and the Web: Weaving Pagan traditions online. Toronto, Canada: ECW Press.

Pontifical Council for Social Communications. (2002). The church and the Internet.
Retrieved June 2, 2004, from http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_church-internet_en.html

Schroeder, R., Heather, N., & Lee, R. M. (1998). The sacred and the virtual: Religion in multi-user virtual reality. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 4. Retrieved June 2, 2004, from http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol4/issue2/schroeder.html#LANGUAGE

Schultze, Q. (2002). Habits of the high-tech heart. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Wertheim, M. (1999). The pearly gates of cyberspace. London: Virago.

Wolf, M. (Ed.). (2003). Virtual morality: Morals, ethics and new media. London: Peter Lang Publishing.

Zaleski, J. (1997). The soul of cyberspace: How technology is changing our spiritual lives. San Francisco: HarperSanFranciso.

Zukowski, A., & Babin, P. (2002). The gospel in cyberspace: Nurturing faith in the Internet age. Chicago: Loyola Press.

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