Finding Faith on the Internet

Religion Online

Finding Faith on the Internet

Edited by Lorne L.Dawson and Douglas E.Cowan

ROUTLEDGE NEWYORKANDLONDON

Published in 2004 by Routledge 29 West 35th Street

New York,NY 10001 www.routledge-ny.com

Published in Great Britain by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane London EC4P 4EE www.routledge.co.uk

Copyright © 2004 by Taylor & Francis Books,Inc.

Routledge is an imprint ofthe Taylor & Francis Group. Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid free paper.

All right reserved.No part ofthis book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,mechanical or other means,now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Religion online :finding faith on the Internet / edited by Lorne L.Dawson and Douglas E. Cowan. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-97021-0 (alk.paper) — ISBN 0-415-97022-9 (pbk.:alk.paper) 1.Religion—Computer network resources.I.Dawson,Lorne L.,1954–II.Cowan, Douglas E. BL37.R46 2004 025.06 2—dc22

2003022731

Acknowledgments vii

1Introduction 1

LORNE L.DAWSON AND DOUGLAS E.COWAN

2Cyberfaith:HowAmericansPursueReligionOnline 17 (ExecutiveSummary)

ELENA LARSEN,PEW INTERNET AND AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT

Part I:Being Religious in Cyberspace

3PopularReligionandtheWorldWideWeb:AMatchMade 23 in(Cyber)Heaven

CHRISTOPHER HELLAND

4CyberspaceasSacredSpace:CommunicatingReligionon 37 ComputerNetworks

STEPHEN D.O’LEARY

5YoungPeople,ReligiousIdentity,andtheInternet59 MIA LÖVHEIM

6ReligionandtheQuestforVirtualCommunity75 LORNE L.DAWSON

Part II:Mainstream Religions in Cyberspace

7ReadingandPrayingOnline:TheContinuityofReligion 93 OnlineandOnlineReligioninInternetChristianity

GLENN YOUNG

8“ThisIsMyChurch”:SeeingtheInternetandClubCulture 107 asSpiritualSpaces

HEIDI CAMPBELL

9“Rip.Burn.Pray.”:IslamicExpressionOnline123

GARY R.BUNT

10TheCybersangha:BuddhismontheInternet135 CHARLES S.PREBISH

Contents v

vi• Contents

Part III:New Religions in Cyberspace

11NewReligionsandtheInternet:RecruitinginaNew 151 PublicSpace

LORNE L.DAWSON AND JENNA HENNEBRY

12TheInternetasVirtualSpiritualCommunity:175 TeenWitchesintheUnitedStatesandAustralia

HELEN A.BERGER AND DOUGLAS EZZY

13TheGoddessNet 189

WENDY GRIFFIN

14TheHouseofNetjer:ANewReligiousCommunityOnline205

MARILYN C.KROGH AND BROOKE ASHLEY PILLIFANT

Part IV:Religious Quests and Contests in Cyberspace

15VirtualPilgrimagetoIreland’sCroaghPatrick223

MARK W.MACWILLIAMS

16SearchingfortheApocalypseinCyberspace239

ROBERT A.CAMPBELL

17ContestedSpaces:Movement,Countermovement,255 andE-SpacePropaganda

DOUGLAS E.COWAN

Acknowledgments

The editors would like to express their appreciation to several publications and publishers for permission to reprint edited versions ofthe following materials in this book.“Cyberfaith:How Americans Pursue Religion Online,”by Elena Larsen and the Pew Internet and American Life Project,is available as a reportat www.pewinternet.org.“Cyberspace as Sacred Space:Communicating Religion on Computer Networks”by Stephen D.O’Leary is a slightly edited version ofan article that first appeared in the Journal ofthe American Academy ofReligion 64,1996:781–808.“New Religions and the Internet:Recruiting in a New Public Space”by Lorne L.Dawson and Jenna Hennebry is a slightly edited version ofan article that first appeared in the Journal ofContemporary Religion 14,1999:17–39,www.tandf.co.uk/journals/carfax/13537903.html.Chapter 10,“The Cybersangha:Buddhism on the Internet”by Charles S.Prebish,is a modified version ofChapter 5 ofPrebish’s book Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study ofBuddhism in America (Berkeley,CA:University ofCalifornia Press).Chapter 15,“Virtual Pilgrimage to Ireland’s Croagh Patrick”by Mark MacWilliams,modifies and extends material that first appeared in “Virtual Pilgrimages on the Internet,” Religion 32,2002:315–335,published by Elsevier. Finally,as always,Douglas Cowan would like to thank his wife Joie for her endless patience and unfailing support.Lorne Dawson would like to thank his wife Dianne for providing the loving support that makes everything possible, including this book. RT0229_C00.qxd 4/6/04 12:22 PM Page vii