The Religion-Social Media Interface

How has the rapid growth and incursion of social in our lives affected religions and religious practice? Since religious, religio-cultural and religion-nationalist messages pervade social media worlds, what are the impacts on different religions within different political-social settings. Some scholars have documented pick-and-choose patterns where people pick some aspects of materially grounded religious practice and rely upon social-media based messaging about histories, beliefs and practices to configure their religious worlds. Other have called these types of practices DIY religions. The opening up of social media worlds, where messaging is crafted for purposes of profit, to reconfigure power and hierarchies, appear to be profoundly affecting religions. Who speaks for a religion, who is in community which groups and where, how much of access do they have to social media worlds, are all questions that require new reflection. This session calls for papers from all parts of the world that explore questions and approaches to exploring the interface between religions and social media worlds. We encourage theoretical and methodological reflections, and research results into this broad question of religions amidst societies that are being reshaped by social media (including AI).