Challenging Authority in an Online Context

In 16th century England, a sort of rebellion was formed against the Catholic Church, who, up until that time was the leading religious authority in the country. The movement was known as the Reformation and caused a separation and the eventual formation of the Protestant Church. Much of the ideas that challenged the Pope's authority were circulated to the "new media" of that day, which was through the printing press. Books and articles written by Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin spread like wildfire. In today's society, when an idea circulates around the internet, it spreads exponentially faster than in the time of the Reformation. Similar to the situation of the church in the 16^th century, there are people in the church who feel like the church is not doing what it is supposed to be doing, and are becoming more and more vocal about what they believe to be the problem. As Pauline Cheong points out in her article on religious authority in online context, the concept of authority can often be vague. However, the four types she identifies are hierarchal, structure, ideological and textual authority. I would argue that all four of these views of authority are challenged in some degree on the internet, but pertaining to Christians speaking out against the church and the problems they perceive it to be having, I would say hierarchal and ideological authority are challenged the most. For example, on the social networking site known as Twitter, many faith seekers sign up for an account and begin to “follow” hundreds of different pastors from around the world. Usually if the seeker is a Christian, they will follow mainly Christian pastors for their religious guidance, but even then the pastors may all have varying views on different aspects of the Christian faith. Some pastors even speak out against the church in areas where they perceive the church to be slacking, which causes those pastor’s followers to, well…follow. Sometimes people will even follow young pseudo tweet-ologians who are not even trained in seminary. A recent example of this type of phenomenon was when a young man named Jefferson Bethke wrote a spoken word and put a video on YouTube entitled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY&noredirect=1). In the video Bethke spoke out against the church in many ways, challenging the traditional ideological beliefs held by many Christians, as well as the hierarchal authority by bypassing the clergy and pastor with his message. The video has now over 20 million views, and many young Christians passionately promoted the video, saying “This is what REAL Christianity is supposed to be!” This clearly challenges the traditional authority structure of the church, as did the Reformers who spoke out against the established church in the 16^th century. Perhaps we are witnessing a sort of Cyber-Reformation?

Identity Online

Within the past decade or so, the internet has become a mainstream entity. Most people know what the internet is, and the majority of the population (at least in America) have access to the internet. In Mia Lovheim’s article, Identity, an article on religious identity and the internet, we are told that identity is “the process where an individual develops the capacity to grasp the meaning of situations in everyday life and their own position in relation to them”, and that through this process the individual creates a “personal identity or self”. There is so much information on the internet, all catering to seekers of different identities, ranging from those who want to learn more about their faith all the way to those who want to learn more about the stock market. Information can be found on the internet about pretty much anything. What is a bit disturbing however, is that pretty much anyone can put anything on the internet. So how does this play out within the context of religious spheres, particularly Christianity? What happens when a young Christian, eager to know more about some doctrinal belief of Christianity, logs onto the internet and seeks out information? If he is a part of an offline Christian community, he will more than likely have already been indoctrinated to some degree, but what is to keep him from researching certain doctrines for himself and deciding what he will believe? In a sense his beliefs and his identity as a Christian could be constructed not by what the local clergy tells him, but by whatever he finds to be the most appealing and compelling beliefs that he finds online. One brief example of this is the use of Twitter as almost a small, online seminary. An individual can follow whomever they want on Twitter, pastor after pastor, even if their doctrines are completely misaligned. For example, here are links to two very well known pastors’ Twitter accounts: https://twitter.com/#!/JoelOsteen (Joel Olsteen) and https://twitter.com/#!/JohnPiper (John Piper). Both of these pastors are well known within the evangelical Christian circles of today, but they teach very different messages at times concerning what the gospel is and how a Christian should live. The danger in this for the Christian is that there are a lot of false doctrines floating around online, false meaning that they do not line up with the whole of Scripture and the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The clergy at the local offline church can do their best to “shepherd their flock” away from these false doctrine, but ultimately an individual can construct their own religious identity through the mass of information available on the internet. So, to answer the question “Does digital media strengthen or weaken individual's ability to construct or perform their religious identity?”: I would say digital media strengthens the individual’s ability to construct or perform their religious identity. Ultimately, this is seen in the offline context of churches, too. People pick and choose which doctrine they will belief in and thus identify themselves with. However, with the internet, there is a lot more information being offered that is quickly and easily accessible, and usually is displayed in a very convincing manner by an “expert” in that area.

"church. anywhere."

The online community I found for this week is an online internet “campus”, based out of a large church in Rockwall, Texas called Lake Pointe. Lake Pointe is a very large church with four offline campuses. They just recently launched an “internet campus” with the clever motto: “church. anywhere.” The intent of the online church is to “ease that transition by allowing people to experience Lake Pointe online first so they know what to expect when they attend one of our physical locations at a later date” as stated on the church’s website (http://www.lakepointe.org/live/information.aspx). They also seek to provide opportunities for individuals with special needs such as physical handicaps/disabilities or are permanently home-ridden, or for individuals who are in a location where a thriving church does not yet exist. There is no blatant definition of community on the website, but even on the online campus page, there are links to the side such as “Believe”, “Connect”, “Build”, “Discover”, “Reach” and “Heal”, many of which are very communally focused. The online campus of Lake Pointe is very similar to the ChurchOnline based out of Oklahoma that we studied in our last class. There is a chat function, but is only enabled during the “live” service times. There is also an online campus pastor, specifically for the online realm of Lake Pointe. The online community seems to be defined as anyone who is seeking to grow or become a part of their church, but the church does put an emphasis on the need for more than just online interaction. There are multiple links and advertisements for offline “life groups” for the individual to be involved in for the sake of “interactive bible study, fellowship, and encouragement”.  There is also links for submitting prayer requests and donating to the church and various mission projects. As was ChurchOnline, Lake Pointe’s internet campus is a largely controlled community, more of a place of broadcast and interaction according to what the offline establishment of Lake Pointe offers. This is structured through the highly organized website, with specific links for specific activities/areas of interest. This online community could have an impact on the offline community in several ways. One could be that people will choose to skip church on Sunday mornings and just opt for the more convenient internet campus (even though this is implicitly discouraged by Lake Pointe staff, as they seem to push the importance of being known offline). This could have positive ramifications for the offline community as well if Lake Pointe’s purpose actually works. They present the online campus as more of a spring board or a sort of dipping-your-toe-in-the-water-before-jumping-in approach, hoping that wary newcomers will see what’s going on at Lake Pointe online and will eventually transition to being a part of the offline community. If this actually happens, this would cause growth in the offline community of Lake Pointe and could potentially help further the spreading of the message and faith that Lake Pointe preaches.

Online Prayer

As we have discussed in class, many religious rituals have adapted some form of online medium. There are different understandings of the word “ritual”, but as defined by Helland, ritual is purposeful engagement with the sacred. For the Christian, one of the most intentional and purposeful forms of engagement with the sacred is prayer. Prayer, like ritual, is something that is difficult to define. For the Christian, prayer is the act of engaging in some sort of conversation with God, either out loud or in one’s own mind, in a solitary place or within community. The prayer can be words of adoration and worship, thanksgiving, pleas of conversation for help, or just simple rest. Most Christians believe they can pray anytime, anywhere, about anything, because God is always listening and wants to hear from his children. As more and more of our culture moves online, it is no surprise that many mediums of prayer have moved online as well. This is a little tricky because most Christians do not believe that prayer is something that necessarily happens by the act of ritual but more by a sincere act of the heart. What I mean is this: there is a difference between just reading a prayer that is posted online to God just as a ritual act to be done, and reading that prayer with a sincere heart of faith to God. For example, the website www.bible.com has a “prayer room” (http://www.bible.com/prayerroom/index.php ), where prayers are posted that the believer can look upon, reflect upon, or even pray. There are also forums where you can post prayer requests (things the believer wants other believers to pray about on their behalf) or praises (praises to God for answered prayers). Some questions raised in class concerning online rituals that I’d like to address are do they have supernatural efficacy, what are their limits, and what needs do they fulfill for the individual/community. In the context of a prayer room, there can be supernatural efficacy, but again, this deals not so much with the actual ritual itself (the act of reading some prayer) as it deals with the question of the heart’s intent and the legitimacy of the faith behind the prayer. If that person believes what the prayer they are praying that they found online with heartfelt conviction, then it is a prayer. I think there are several limits to online prayer rooms, especially the isolation aspect. One can log onto the internet and get onto a prayer room without knowing or being known by anyone in the online prayer room. It is much easier to say (or not say) many things when behind a computer screen. For example, a man might be a raging alcoholic and porn addict who logs online and joins this prayer room, but instead of asking for prayer for his addictions, he asks for prayer for much lighter subjects. When there is no accountability, it is easier for the believer to be fake about what they are really dealing with. This touches on the needs for individuals and communities addressed online. Of course online communities can give you some sense of community, but I’d argue that there is a big difference between synthesized community through a computer and real face-to-face-living-life-together community. Anybody can say they are whoever they want when they are behind a computer screen. 

To conclude, I do not think online prayer rooms are awful and evil, nor do I think they are the best thing ever. I think that when used with the right intentions, prayer rooms can be a beneficial tool to strengthen the body of faith, (though I realize “right intentions” can arguably be subjective). However, I think these online prayer rooms should serve more as a supplement for an already existing community in which people are known and knowing others. The people involved should know that prayer is not just a ritual in the Christian faith; otherwise you are missing the whole point. Prayer is connecting with the God who loves us (as Christians believe), and is a matter of the heart, not just the head.

Christ & Pop Culture

I found a nifty website pertaining to Christianity and media called www.christandpopculture.com. As the website’s subtitle denotes, it is a place “where the Christian faith meets the common knowledge of our age”. This is a great example of how blogs and websites can be so influential in shaping the shared beliefs in a religious tradition. For example, on this website alone there are countless articles about different things in life that the Bible (the Christian’s holy book, what they consider to be the Word of God) does not directly address, and how Christians should handle them, with all kinds of different perspectives on how it can be related to their beliefs. For example: on this page, there is an article under the ‘Technology’ tab titled “What Memes Mean: So Facebook Changed Everything (Again)”. In this article it talks about the recent phenomenon of the “meme”, which is a picture with a caption, usually funny and ironic and pointing out something in society and poking fun of it. In this article, the author points out that memes are just another way humans have found to complain, and ties it in to human nature and how humans need a savior because we are broken and in need of God’s redemption. Very interesting website!

Old Faith, New Media

This blog is dedicated to the study of Christianity, a faith tradition of 2,000 years, and it's relation to new media and digital culture. New media culture is a fairly new phenomenon, with the use of the internet and cell phones and digital media having grown rather quickly over the past few decades. I will examine specific situations pertaining to the Christian Church and it's relation with new media. I want to look at how they use new media to perpetuate and spread their beliefs, through online mediums such as Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.