New Religions are Coming on Line


It seems like every new technology brings something new about religion. The service called Tic Toc is no exception. There are young people producing videos calling themselves prophets and the wise who are gaining followers. 

The link talked to young woman who has a following:

Her beliefs are reminiscent of many others on the internet, people who speak of “bad vibes,” demonic spirits, or a cosmic calamity looming just over the horizon, one that the government may be trying to keep secret.

At the alleged time of Jesus there were several itinerate preachers walking about local towns preaching of this or that. According to the Bible Jesus talked of sin and soon coming end of times. To me, this sounds similar to the "demonic spirits or cosmic calamity looming just over the horizon" the young woman is talking about. Time moves on but the appeal of some kind of end times and unseen super-duper god force is as popular today as it was when the Bible was written.  

We all know different today is the ability to reach large numbers of people with no expense. It's both wonderful and terrible.

The reassuring part of today's technology is that while one crackpot can reach a wider audience that ever before, so can competitors who have equally crackpot ideas. It seems to me they are popping up everywhere and as soon as one appears others crowd in the same space.

In the link a professor of anthropology was asked if this video-based preaching may become a new religion. His reply was it already has. It could be called, he said, the religion of asking questions and challenging. In addition, it is the religion of "doing my own research."

Surely this new culture is the result of the internet and the ceaseless bombardment of advertising. Public school systems have implemented critical thinking to help students sift through the static that is the digital world.

I hope I'm accurate in concluding that the new producers of religious content is being offset by consumers skilled at producing skepticism. It will not help current religions like Christianity but may thwart new whacko ones waiting to move in where Christianity has been abandoned.

Comments

  1. little helperDecember 17, 2021 at 4:29 PM

    re. tic toc; Yes, the threats of mass shootings at schools is a wonderful thing. Huh?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jon LindgrenDecember 17, 2021 at 8:25 PM

    helper re:tic toc

    One of our grandchildren is on tic toc--Face Book is not as popular with young teens. I've never seen it. I suppose it will be replaced with something else.

    Different experience tonight. Went to the local community theater tonight--first time in two or more years. I think the place holds 600 people. It was packed but every person in the audience wore a mask. I had never worn one that long--3 hours. It was a risky but fun thing to do.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jon LindgrenDecember 18, 2021 at 7:09 AM

    At the play the chief exec of the theater gave the welcome. He went through up-coming productions and then discussed masks. He said the theater cannot put on these productions unless everyone wears a mask. In Iowa the witless Republican Governor and majority in the legislature passed a bill prohibiting mask requirements. The theater CEO knew how to require masks without breaking the law. "Masks are forcefully recommended," he said.

    ReplyDelete

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