The most engaging pages on facebook are religious ones, with Jesus Daily leading the race, accumulating 3,516,350 interactions. The Bible ranks in third picking up a 1,438,354 weekly posts in total.
http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-engaging-page-jesusdaily-2011-11
Social networking site such as facebook are proving that religion is trying to unite more communities through social mediums than face to face interactions. However some claiming that “online communities are deepening our interpersonal relationships while others worry that they are undermining them and our spiritual lives”
In a recent article the Pope said new media and social networks offered “a great opportunity,” but he warned of the risks of having more virtual friends than real ones. “It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives,” Pope Benedict
In the United States, a study showing that nearly half of Protestant churches use Facebook while 40 percent do not use any social networking tools. The trend is towards greater adoption of social networking tools.
There are many religious nonprofits, houses of worship, clergy and small-group ministries now routinely maintain pages on Facebook, MySpace and many more religious groups and individuals have established presences on religion-oriented sites, such as Christian Network and Muslimsocial.com.
Also twitter has been embracing religion and having an impact, as some people tweet prayers, meditations and even entire religious services or the whole of the Bible in the 140-characters format.
However some religious leaders express growing concerns about putting their faith in Facebook, because they worry that religion and spirituality are being reduced to bytes and instant messages. Also some believe aspect of religious practices is being lost because of social networking sites.
I believe as social networks expand and develop, they will continue to influence the way people communicate and practice religion. The spread knowledge will also increase in the near future; religion should be able to adapt to an environment that is moving very fast, and try not to stay behind.
Religion may be strengthened through social networking sites by bringing communities together and sharing faith and beliefs. People can acquire knowledge through interaction with others and also be influenced to practice more so it is a great way to attract followers and keep everyone connected spiritually.
ReplyDeleteSocial Networking can aid religion. Social networking can help by the religious community discussing their faiths and acquiring knowledge. Certainly churches and religion can gain followers through the use of social networking; particularly if you are too busy to go to church regularly. However, the pope still recommends face-to-contact more then virtual contact which I think is a very good point and must be taken into consideration.
ReplyDeleteSocial networking is a powerful tool that can give us the knowledge and awareness about different religions. Through the minds and free speech of cultural religions, it does reunite us to become less ignorant when we are faced with someone that believes in a different ‘god’. That is why many facebook groups are setup by a number of religions to provide knowledge to the audience. However, I am a strong believer of face-to-face conversations and should always be practised more so then virtual face-to-face as the pope states.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the comments here. Social media can definitely enhance religion. If someone believes social media is destroying religion then they are really not knowledgable on social medias ability to reach people who would usually not come anywhere near anything religious. Now even if you did not have a religious background, just the fact that you are on some kind of social media means that you will happen to read a tweet or Facebook status regarding something religious. So in my opinion religious leaders should embrace social media rather than disregard it because it is making the world more knowledgable of their faith.
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