Give Me That Online Religion

225 Pages·2001·2.778 MB·English

by  Brenda E. Brasher

B u s i n e s s C u l i n a r y A r c h i t e c t u r e
C o m p u t e r G e n e r a l I n t e r e s t
C h i l d r e n L i f e S c i e n c e s B i o g r a p h y
A c c o u n t i n g F i n a n c e M a t h e m a t i c s
H i s t o r y S e l f - I m p r o v e m e n t H e a l t h
E n g i n e e r i n g G r a p h i c D e s i g n
A p p l i e d S c i e n c e s P s y c h o l o g y
I n t e r i o r D e s i g n B i o l o g y C h e m i s t r y
e
WILEY
B O O K
WILEY
JOSSEY-BASS
PFEIFFER
J.K.LASSER
CAPSTONE
WILEY-LISS
WILEY-VCH
WILEY-INTERSCIENCE

Give Me That
ONLINE RELIGION

Give Me That
ONLINE RELIGION
BRENDA E. BRASHER
Copyright © 2001 by Jossey-Bass Inc., 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104.
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Printed in the United States of America.
Text design by Lisa Buckley.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Brasher, Brenda E., date.
Give me that online religion / Brenda E. Brasher.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7879-4579-X (alk. paper)
1. Religion—Computer network resources. 2. Internet—Religious aspects.
3. Cyberspace—Religious aspects. I. Title.
BL37 .B73 2001
025.06’2—dc21 00-11190
FIRSTEDITION
HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
Acknowledgments] x
1] A Revolution in the Making:
Spiritual Wonder Goes Online 2
2] The Ultimate Diaspora:
Religion in the Perpetual Present of Cyberspace 24
3] A Taste of Forever:
Cyberspace as Sacred Time 46
4] Cyber-Seekers: Stories of Virtual Pilgrimage 68
5] Cyber-Virtue and Cyber-Vice 94
6] Virtual Shrines and the Cult of Celebrity 120
7] Existential Doubt, or Does a Cyborg Have a Soul? 140
8] Virtual Prophets, Instant Global Access,
and the Apocalypse 160
Epilogue]Seeing a Flame There:
Religion and the Future of Cyberspace 185
Notes] 188
The Author] 196
Index] 198
Disclaimer
We know that many of the Websites listed in this
book no longer exist. That is the nature of the Web.
However, religion is alive and well on the Internet.
See the author’s Website,
http://www.brendabrasher.com
for a list of current Websites.
For Jason, who introduced me to my first computer,
And for Michael, who together with me found love via one