www.religion.com

The following are my reflections about online religion based on the knowledge I gained from the interview and essay we just wrote. 

We certainly don’t need any more reason to take to the online world. There are already far too many of us who type more than we talk and click more than we walk. As contemporary society spends more and more time online, it is inevitable that a significant portion of Internet users are searching for something religious, online (but also in real life, I suppose). That there is greater accessibility to heaps of religious material does not mean that this platform of gathering information should become one’s primary means of practicing religion.  The Internet is a great platform for secondary practice, watching additional sermons, discovering new music, and accessing diverse arenas of information, stories and opinions.

But the Internet should not replace the real thing. Sharing your faith with your supportive community, growing and helping others grow through shared experience is living your faith. It’s not even that you’re not in a sacred space, that sitting in front of your computer in your pyjamas is profane; it’s that you’re not out there living your faith, actually practising your religion in the community. If you invited the entire congregation to your house to praise God, it would absolutely be sacred.  What is sacred about the church is not the building or the space as a place where God is worshipped. What is sacred about the church is the people and the coming together of people. As people join together in their like-mindedness and shared beliefs and love, faith in God is increased. It is these people and this community that is sacred, because it is in this community that people come together to give and heal and connect though their love for God and their dedication to Jesus.

We all know that this community isn’t really possible online, even though people have tried to deceive themselves into thinking that social media is about real community and interaction. Your faith is sacred; allow it to be the one thing that doesn’t involve you hunched in front of a screen.