Internet Use Among Religious Followers

Religious Postmodernism in Japanese Buddhism

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12449656
AutoresKenshin Fukamizu (autor correspondente)
Ano2007
Volume12
Fascículo3
Páginas977-998
Data de publicação2007-04-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1083-6101 • E-ISSN: 1083-6101
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00359.x
OpenAlexW2091666925
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas1

Strong sect organizations are a feature of traditional Buddhist denominations in Japan. Having long benefited from the protection of Japan’s feudal society, these once strong organizations have been buttressed by factors of social change in the modern and post-modern eras, including modernization and the evolution of the media. The Internet is a rich source of information about innovations of religions adapting to social change. To examine these changes, I undertook a survey from 2002 to 2004 of 2,007 followers and religious specialists. The results highlight a critical attitude among followers: Sending and receiving messages in the interaction between a religious group and its followers results in followers expanding the scope of allowable subjects of criticism, and they have begun to entertain doubts regarding their faith systems. We may infer that in postmodern faith, horizontal interaction among religious followers will take on an increasingly important role in comparison with the vertical (top-down) structure of traditional doctrines

Buddhism · Criticism · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Faith · Feudalism · Modernization theory · Political science · Postmodernism · Scope (computer science · Sociology · The Internet · Theology · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions