As mediatisation is key to this essay, it is important to firstly define it in order to elaborate on its effects on religious institutions. Mediatisation is a new theoretical framework that describes a process through reframing questions regarding the influence of various media in culture and society (Hjarvard, 119). Initially mediatisation referred to a process of disempowerment, now it describes the power of media institutions, values and technologies and their increasing autonomy. Media no longer mediate power, but rather constitute it (Deacon, 1033). This is a metaprocess concerned with the appropriation of and adjustment to media logics by, in this case religious institutions into their own various cultural practices (Lunt, 466).
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Media is nowadays a vital information source and discussion forum for topics relating to religion; this kind of interaction with religious issues, challenges the authority of religious institutions. The places (churches), representatives (ministers etc and texts (bible etc) are relocated to a minor role when it comes to spiritual matters and religious issues, one can google these things themselves (Hjarvard, 125). Online metrics have become more important potentially than actually going to church, pageviews, Twitter followers, and so on are key to religious organisation, the question is do these things actually bring people to the Church ().Due to media becoming this important source of information, furthermore, the place to visit for engaging in spiritual matters, the media have acquired what used to be the Church’s power to frame and define religious ideas. (Hjarvard, 125). Subsequently, media become the producers and distributors of religious content, thus, influencing the ways in which users and audiences interact with the institution. Media, through mediatisation has the power to create virtual worlds that invite people to take part in the experiences of a religious-like character - FOR EXAMPLE. Additionally, social media have to an extent replaced the church as a platform …show more content…
Hjarvard, discusses the concept of banal religion, an implicit, ‘unwaived flag’ and religion that may come to be associated with religious meaning through the “media’s representational practices, despite not including explicit religious meaning (Hjarvard, 128) These are alternative religions, seen in film, books, computer games and their accompanying websites that are created and consumed by media and fans alike; religious symbols and actions blend to invite religious-life experiences and interests (Hjarvard, 126).Through agenda-setting functions (McComb 2004), both fictional and factual media influence the type of information about religious issues that circulate in society (Hjarvard, 126). both individual and collective religious imagination are created and maintained “by a series of experiences and representations in the media that may have little or no relationship with institutionalised religions” (Hjarvard, 128). Take for example the religion of the Jedi Knights (http://www.jedichurch.org/) that now has a place in the New Zealand Census. Popular Culture and Religion share a “nebulous relationship” (Journal of Religion and Pop Culture). Pop Culture media invent entirely new paradigms, or rather religiosities to convey religious
Moore does not devote much of his attention to religious ideas. Instead, he examines several different instances of the blending of the sacred and the profane in popular American culture. Moore narrates the direct and indirect effects of the public display of religion for both sacreds and seculars. History, lifestyle, work, education, government, music, sporting events, marketplace, literature, and womanhood influence people. He also brings up how religion can influence racial militancy and terrorism that threaten equality, domestic security, and national identity.
The contemporary Church is so often a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. It is so often the arch-supporter of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the Church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the Church's silent and often vocal sanction of things as they are.”
―"Religion in “Brave New World“." Religion in Brave New World. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 May 2014.
the power of faith are developed and can be used to show the problems in today’s culture.
Religion is a part of society that is so closely bound to the rest of one’s life it becomes hard to distinguish what part of religion is actually being portrayed through themselves, or what is being portrayed through their culture and the rest of their society. In Holy Terrors, Bruce Lincoln states that religion is used as a justifiable mean of supporting violence and war throughout time (Lincoln 2). This becomes truly visible in times such as the practice of Jihad, the Reformation, and 9/11. The purpose of this essay is to show that as long as religion is bound to a political and cultural aspect of a community, religious war and destruction will always occur throughout the world. A historical methodology will be deployed in order to gain
Smart, Ninian. "Blackboard, Religion 100." 6 March 2014. Seven Dimensions of Religion. Electronic Document. 6 March 2014.
The purpose of this reflective outline is to demonstrate a thorough understanding of theories, concepts, and/or strategies relating to cultural and social religions. “Whale Rider” (Caro, 2002) , is a depictive representation of a cultural religion that has survived on the belief of male inheritance as their form of guidance; however, history has shown that change is inevitable. For example, throughout history, religion has played a pivotal role in the development of individuals, including the evolution of societies. This shows that because religion/s around the world have practiced their core beliefs in an attempt to guide humanities behaviors, yet , as we can observe with the “Whale Rider,” even the most influential community and cultural leaders can become miscued in their ideologies. Because The Maori of New Zealand have developed deep seated beliefs within natural creatures; Katu is term used to relate to their god (Maori.com, 2014) steaming for their ancestral Polynesian descendants. In addition to what can be observed, such as beliefs, practices, and/or symbolic terminologies, each religion will ensure its presidential knowledge is passed to those who receive it accordingly. The factual concept stands and history has proven is evolution that without guidance and continuous religious and cultural support, decedents of a heritage may become lost and/or miscued within their mislead ideology. Although many religions are centered on the belief of normality’s cultural expectance, often times we can observe drastic changes in the reorganization of a cultural religion.
Throughout the history of motion pictures, stories have impacted society through various means, but up until recently, these influences were usually limited to hobbies and interests. With the emergence of a deep psychological thriller dubbed The Matrix, cinematic influence on religion has become quite evident. The Matrix combines allegories of religious figures such as Jesus Christ and Buddha with a quasi-enlightenment concept that appears in many of the mystical Eastern religions. This amalgamation of religious ideas creates an amazing foundation for what many members of religious communities—online communities stand out as the most prominent example—have come to refine their core religions into over the last few years. Many of these communities consider their new faiths to be simple denominations of their core beliefs, finding that their refined religion fits not only theologically but logically and scholarly with their paternal religion. I consider myself one of these philosophical persons pushing provocatively within the religious community of Christianity towards the beliefs which I find so intriguing and bold.
Religion is known to be a set of values, beliefs, and the understanding of life. Every religion has its own different set of beliefs and values. This essay will show how much religion has decreased, why people do not practice religion, and how secularism and the media have played a role in the decline of religion.
Valle, Carlos. "Religion and the Media." Religion-Online. World Association for Christian Communication, n.d. Web. 20 Mar 2014. .
Geertz defines religion as ‘(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.’ In this essay, I will focus on the Geertz’s idea, and Asad’s subsequent critique, of symbols. (Geertz, Clifford, and Michael Banton. "Religion as a cultural system." (1966).)
Sociological theorist have provided two broad insights as to what exactly the sociology of religion can refer to. One concept acknowledges that “the nature of religion is part of a human condition” (pg 652) while the other concept is an applied school that focuses more on the statistics of who populated the religion and is concerned more about more technical details such as age, gender and social class and how “these interacted with the host of social, social psychological and sociopolitical outcomes in societies” (pg 652). Despite the two approaches of studying religions most theorists took the applied route or did observational work at the beginning of their careers.
There are many knowledgeable books that introduce religions as well as specific religious traditions. However, students are naturally introduced to abstract methodological issues such as observer bias, rather than the religions themselves. If religions of the world are not approached with purpose and method, then students are likely to gain “stereotypes… of misinformation supplied by certain sectors of the media” (Chryssides & Geaves, 2014). Thus, in order to see how religion is lived in day to day life, one must “walk a mile in [the] moccasins [of religious people]” as Smart (1998) says. Therefore this essay will attempt to answer why it is important to study religion off campus and how this may challenge traditional understandings of religion.
Most of the contemporary problems bedeviling our society are because of lack of proper spiritual anchorage. Civil and technological differentiations embodied in the media have aggravated the situation. Technological differentiation has undermined religion by taking the place of spirituality in adherents’ lives.
Children can be influenced and impacted in many ways whether it is from their parents, peers, and even strangers. One thing many people don’t realize is that many children, nowadays, are actually being influenced by the media, meaning they are being affected by different media sources, such as television and the internet. The question is whether the sources of media, television and the internet has a positive effect or a negative effect on children, and which source of media has a bigger effect.