@article {213,
	title = {Technophilia and Nature Religion: the Growth of a Paradox},
	journal = {Religion },
	volume = {32},
	year = {2002},
	pages = {303-314},
	abstract = {This article explores the issues, theoretical paradoxes and potential problems that occur when the ideas and beliefs of Nature Religion adherents (specifically Wiccans) are juxtaposed with many believers{\textquoteright} utilisation and seeming dependence on the technological (read: non-natural), hyper-real communication medium of the Internet for communicating and developing their nature-based ideologies, for the enhancement of their experience of Wiccan practices through ritual, and for community creation and growth.
},
	keywords = {community, Paradox, religion, Ritual, Wicca},
	url = {http://www.mendeley.com/research/technophilia-nature-religion-growth-paradox-4/},
	author = {Arthur, Shawn}
}
@article {1191,
	title = {Religion and the Internet: A microcosm for studying Internet trends and implications},
	journal = {new media \& society},
	volume = {15},
	year = {2012},
	chapter = {680},
	abstract = {This article argues that paying close attention to key findings within the study of religion 
and the Internet, a subfield of Internet Studies, can enhance our understanding and 
discussion of the larger social and cultural shifts at work within networked society. 
Through a critical overview of research on religion online, five central research areas 
emerge related to social practices, online{\textendash}offline connections, community, identity, and 
authority online. It is also argued that observations about these themes not only point 
to specific trends within religious practice online, but also mirror concerns and findings 
within other areas of Internet Studies. Thus, studying religion on the Internet provides 
an important microcosm for investigating Internet Studies{\textquoteright} contribution in a wide range 
of contexts in our contemporary social world.},
	keywords = {Authority, community, Computer, Contemporary Religious Community, cyberspace, identity, internet, Mass media, network, New Media and Society, new media engagement, New Technology and Society, offline, Online, online communication, Online community, religion, religion and internet, Religion and the Internet, religiosity, religious engagement, religious identity, Religious Internet Communication, Religious Internet Communities, Ritual, sociability unbound, Sociology of religion, users{\textquoteright} participation, virtual community, virtual public sphere, {\textquotedblleft}digital religion{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}Internet Studies{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}media and religion{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}media research{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}networked society{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}online identity{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}religion online{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}religious congregations{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}religious media research{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}religious practice online{\textquotedblright}},
	url = {http://nms.sagepub.com/content/15/5/680.abstract},
	author = {Heidi A Campbell}
}
@article {330,
	title = {Exploring the religious frameworks of the digital realm: Offline-Online-Offline transfers of ritual performance},
	journal = {Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology},
	volume = {1},
	year = {2007},
	abstract = {Looking at the constantly growing field of religion online, the shifts in and the new definition of religious frameworks become an increasingly important topic. In the field of religious rituals, it is not only the participant, location and conduction of the ritual that is affected by this shift; also the researchers have to overthrow their former theologically resp. systemic based definition of religiousness and spirituality due to the fact that on the Internet, religion is defined and realized in a completely different way by its participants. This is true even in the field of Christianity as the example of a ritual created by some British {\quotedblbase}Emerging Church{\textquotedblleft} groups shows. 
These loosely defined groups which span all denominational borders of the Christian spectrum have been established since the late 1980s mainly in the UK in order to organize church services they refer to as {\quotedblbase}Alternative Worship{\textquotedblleft}. The Internet plays an important role as a platform of communication and (self-)organization of the members and as technically and aesthetically challenging means of (re)presentation. Some events that were conducted in real life, like the multimedia labyrinth installation in St Paul{\textquoteleft}s cathedral in 2000, have even been {\quotedblbase}reconstructed{\textquotedblleft} in virtual space , generating a new form of worship. 
Interestingly but not unexpectedly, these transfer processes entail consequences for spirituality in real life. What exactly happens during the transfer into the digital realm? What are the interdependencies between offline and online and how do they affect worship and worshippers? These questions will be followed, employing the results and ideas of modern Ritual and Religious Studies, sheding light on a new field of (post)modern Christianity.
},
	keywords = {Communication, information, methodology, Ritual, study of religion, technology},
	url = {http://www.digitalislam.eu/article.do?articleId=1703},
	author = {Heidbrink , S}
}
@article {492,
	title = {Cyberpilgrimage: The (Virtual) Reality of Online Pilgrimage Experience},
	journal = {Religion Compass},
	volume = {5},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {236-246},
	abstract = {Cyberpilgrimage is the practice of undertaking pilgrimage on the internet. Such pilgrimages may be performed for a host of reasons, ranging from idle curiosity to the need to ready oneself, psychologically or informationally, for a {\textquoteleft}real{\textquoteright} (terrestrial) pilgrimage. For some web-users, these experiences may amount to little more than interesting diversions, mildly intriguing ripples in a sea of information and possibility, to be paused upon and pondered briefly before surfing onward to other things. Depending on individual motivations and circumstances, however, they can be deeply charged, transformative, enlightening and profoundly fulfilling on both emotional and spiritual levels. As new as the internet is, cyberpilgrimage is newer; and it seems clear we are witnessing the birth of one of a number of largely uncharted ways by which people are beginning to experience themselves spiritually on the internet. Such experiences tend to be perceived as more self-mediated and, thus, more individualised, liberated and radical than terrestrial experiences of a similar sort (though this is not necessarily the case). This article is intended to explain what cyberpilgrimage can entail, to survey the input to-date of contemporary scholars to the study of cyberpilgrimage; and to offer insight into some of the major debates and questions it raises, in particular with regard to the authenticity of computer-based {\textquoteleft}experience{\textquoteright}.
},
	keywords = {Online, pilgrimage, Ritual},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00277.x/abstract},
	author = {Hill-Smith, C}
}
@article {332,
	title = {Virtually Sacred: The Performance of Asynchronous Cyber-RItuals in Online Spaces},
	journal = {Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication},
	volume = {12},
	year = {2007},
	abstract = {This article explores how the design of sacred spaces and ritual performance are transformed in the move from offline to online contexts. A semiotic analysis of two websites{\textemdash}a Christian Virtual Church and a Hindu Virtual Temple{\textemdash}suggests the potential for demarcating distinct online sacred spaces, in a Durkheimian sense, in which devotees can engage in ritual activity. The article focuses on the performance of cyberpuja in the Virtual Temple and the posting of prayers in the Virtual Church. Interviews with the Web designers and an analysis of the sites suggest that the virtual is primarily conceived in terms of a simulation of the "real." Consequently these sites are envisaged in terms of conventional notions of sacred space and ritual performance, rather than as something radically new.},
	keywords = {cyberspace, Performance, Ritual, Sacred},
	url = {http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue3/jacobs.html},
	author = {Jacobs, S}
}
@article {1224,
	title = {Authority in the Virtual Sangat : Sikhism, Ritual and Identity in the Twenty-First Century},
	journal = {Online {\textendash} Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	volume = {02.1},
	year = {2006},
	chapter = {24},
	abstract = {In her paper Authority in the Virtual Sangat. Sikhism, Ritual and Identity in the Twenty-First Century, Doris Jakobsh analyses the change of authority based on her research on Sikhs on the Internet. She stresses the Web as a {\textquoteleft}third place{\textquoteright} of communication among the Sikhs as well as the phenomenon of new authorities online. However, this does not imply the replacement of the traditional seats of authority, the Akal Takht, SGPC, or gurdwara managements, but one can recognize a significant shift away from these traditional sites of authority toward the {\textquoteleft}new authorities{\textquoteright}, the intermediaries of cyberspace. Her analysis shows that this aspect of the Sikh experience brings with it the most profound challenges and, most importantly, a need to bridge the post-modern individual, i.e. {\textquoteleft}Sikh tradition{\textquoteright} intertwined and legitimated by the metanarrative, and the proliferation of new authorities who have become intermediaries of Sikhism online by virtue of their expertise within the digital domain.},
	keywords = {Akal Takht, Authority, Digital Religion, identity, online communication, Ritual, Sangat, Sikhism, Sociology of religion, third place},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/religions/article/view/374},
	author = {Jakobsh, Doris R}
}
@article {149,
	title = {Rituals and Pixels. Experiments in Online Church},
	journal = {Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	year = {2008},
	abstract = {Simon Jenkins, the founder of the famous {\textquotedblleft}Church of Fools{\textquotedblright}, writes about his experiences of turning Christian rituals into virtual reality. In his article {\textquotedblleft}Rituals and Pixels. Experiments in Online Church{\textquotedblright} he describes from an emic perspective the beginnings and the formation of the {\textquotedblright}Church of Fools{\textquotedblright} as an experiment of a 3D-Faith-Environment, its development and his latest project, {\textquotedblleft}St Pixels".},
	keywords = {Reality, Ritual, Virtual},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2008/8291/pdf/jenkins.pdf},
	author = {Jenkins, Simone}
}
@article {1246,
	title = {Techno-Ritualization : the Gohozon Controversy on the Internet},
	journal = {Online {\textendash} Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	volume = {02.1},
	year = {2006},
	chapter = {91},
	abstract = {In Techno-Ritualization {\textendash} The Gohozon Controversy on the Internet, Mark MacWilliams describes the case of the {\textquotedblleft}Gohonzon{\textquotedblright}, Nichiren{\textquoteright}s sacred mandala consisting of the title of the Lotus Sutra that is used for worship in the various Nichiren Buddhist sects. Whereas this mandala is generally considered as extremely sacred and it is demanded that it should be housed in the home altar and only displayed privately for devotional chanting, it can nowadays be found on the Internet as a {\textquotedblleft}prayer Gohonzon{\textquotedblright} from the American Independent Movement, a Buddhist group unaffiliated with the official authority S{\^o}ka Gakkai International (SGI). The Internet site offers a virtual altar with a fully displayed Gohonzon, twinkling lighted candles before it, and the chant, {\textquotedblleft}Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,{\textquotedblright} flashing syllable by syllable on the screen. MacWilliam underlines the power of the Internet to transform religious practice with the example of the virtual prayer and to challenge real life ecclesiastical organizations: the way the Internet is being used is transforming the way people {\textquotedblleft}do{\textquotedblright} religion.},
	keywords = {Digital Religion, Gohonzon, Lotus Sutra, Nichiren, Nichiren Buddhist sects, religion, Ritual, sacred mandala, S{\^o}ka Gakkai, worship},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/religions/article/view/371},
	author = {Marc MacWilliams}
}
@article {334,
	title = {Online Rituals in Virtual Worlds: Christian Online Services between Dynamix and Stability},
	journal = {Online-Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	volume = {3},
	year = {2008},
	keywords = {Christianity, Online, Ritual, Virtual},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2008/8293/pdf/nadja.pdf},
	author = {Miczek, N}
}
@inbook {474,
	title = {Religious Rituals on Video Sharing Websites},
	booktitle = {Reflexivity, Media and Visuality},
	pages = {339-355},
	publisher = {Harrassowitz},
	organization = {Harrassowitz},
	address = {Wiesbaden},
	keywords = {religion and internet, Ritual, video sharing website},
	author = {Pasche Guignard, Florence}
}
@article {1244,
	title = {Rituals Online : Transferring and Designing Rituals},
	journal = {Online {\textendash} Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	volume = {02.1},
	year = {2006},
	chapter = {54},
	abstract = {
Kerstin Radde-Antweiler stresses the aspect of ritual construction by the individual believers in her paper Rituals Online. Transferring and Designing Rituals. In addition to the potential of the Internet to offer interaction and new processes of communication in the context of rituals {\textendash} the so called "Online-Rituals" {\textendash}, this medium also offers much information about rituals and instructions how to perform a ritual, in and outside the Internet. This varies from the publication of {\textendash} at first glance - fixed ritual prescripts to texts on how to design a ritual by him- or herself. These fixed texts are often identified as old traditional scripts, whereas critical analyses show explicit or implicit transfers and receptions of various religious traditions. In the paper, different ritual prescripts presented on Wicca- and Solitaire Homepages, which are often seen as continuation of pre-Christian, matriarchal, Celtic and Germanic cults and mythologies, are analysed and their transfer processes are exemplified. Instances that show the processes of ritual transfer are the choice of the owner-names, the mixture of deities of different religions, the integration of different feasts and festivals etc. The assertion of perpetual continuity from the insider perspective seems contradict those texts which encourage the believers to develop their own individual ritual. Therefore, the elements of newness and invention as well as the phenomenon of Ritual Design in their processes of gaining legitimacy and authority has to be examined},
	keywords = {Authority, Digital Religion, Hexe, Hexenglaube, internet, Online-Rituals, Patchwork, religion, Ritual, Wiccakult},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/religions/article/view/376/352},
	author = {Kerstin Radde-Antweiler}
}
@article {335,
	title = {Rituals-Online: Transferring and Designing Rituals},
	journal = {Online-Heidelberg Journal of Religion on the Internet},
	volume = {2},
	year = {2006},
	abstract = {{\textquotedblleft}(1) We acquire knowledge today from the Internet. (2) Searching and finding information in the Internet is an independent element of our culture {\textendash} in the future, children will learn how to count, read, write, and google at school. (3) The ability to acquire information and integrate it into our personal corpus of knowledge is more important than the knowledge itself. (4) Search engines like Google always provide a surplus of information: Users find answers to questions that they haven{\textquoteright}t even asked (yet). Google generates an entire universe of questions and in the process ultimately changes the basic operation of knowledge acquisition.{\textquotedblright}},
	keywords = {Design, Online, Ritual},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2006/6957/pdf/Aufsatz_Radde_Antweiler.pdf},
	author = {Radde-Antwiler, K.}
}
@article {1243,
	title = {Ethnic Revival, and the Reappearance of Indigenous Religions in the ROC : the Use of the Internet in the Construction of Taiwanese Identities},
	journal = {Online {\textendash} Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	volume = {02.1},
	year = {2006},
	chapter = {41},
	abstract = {Michael Rudolph{\textquoteright}s article Nativism, Ethnic Revival, and the Reappearance of Indigenous Religions in the ROC: The Use of the Internet in the Construction of Taiwanese Identities deals with rituals presented on Taiwanese Websites in the context of identity construction. Since the mid-nineties, long abandoned and very un-Chinese ritual practices suddenly seemed to become popular again in China{\textquoteright}s runaway-province Taiwan: in spite of the fact that most of the island{\textquoteright}s 2\% of indigenous population had been Christianized for half a century, intellectual elites of different aboriginal groups now referred to ancestor-gods, tattooing and even headhunting again as essential parts of their own traditional repertoire, often making abundant use of the Internet in order to propagate these convictions to a broader Chinese speaking public. This contribution not only scrutinises the political context that made such a development possible, but also assesses this practice in terms of the identity construction of the specific ethnic groups.},
	keywords = {aboriginal groups, Digital Religion, Ethnic, identity, Indigenous Religions, internet, online communication, religion online, Ritual, Taiwan},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/religions/article/view/375/351},
	author = {Michael Rudolph}
}
@book {2082,
	title = {Godwired: Religion, ritual and virtual reality},
	year = {2012},
	publisher = {Routledge},
	organization = {Routledge},
	address = {New York},
	abstract = {Godwired offers an engaging exploration of religious practice in the digital age. It considers how virtual experiences, like stories, games and rituals, are forms of world-building or "cosmos construction" that serve as a means of making sense of our own world. Such creative and interactive activity is, arguably, patently religious.},
	keywords = {Godwired, religion, Ritual, virtual reality},
	issn = {9780203148075},
	url = {https://books.google.com/books/about/Godwired.html?id=aHOHZwEACAAJ},
	author = {Wagner, R}
}
@article {1306,
	title = {Internet Accessibility of the Mizuko Kuyo (Water-Child Ritual) in Modern Japan: A Case Study in Weberian Rationality},
	journal = {Sociological Focus},
	volume = {46},
	year = {2013},
	chapter = {229},
	abstract = {The mizuko kuyo is a Japanese (Buddhist, Shinto, New Religious, other) memorial service for infants or young children who have died through some misfortune, including disease, miscarriage, and, increasingly, elective abortion. Indeed, abortion is the predominant form of contraception for many Japanese families. Here we consider, in Weberian terms of the rationalization of institutions, how Internet accessibility and its created virtual reality of the mizuko kuyo has driven its popularity along the dimensions of privatization, bureaucratization, and commodification in decisions to perform the ritual by Internet. We utilize a sample of Tokyo mizuko kuyo Web sites and the contexts of their advertisements and available services for mizuko kuyo, including fee structures and other advertising {\textquotedblleft}lures,{\textquotedblright} to analyze this merging of traditional and modern technological paths of spirituality along Weberian theoretical lines.},
	keywords = {Buddhist, children, infants, Japan, memorial service, mizuko kuyo, New Religious, religion, Ritual, Shinto, Spirituality, websites},
	url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00380237.2013.796833$\#$.Ul1LyVCsim5},
	author = {Mieko Yamadaa and Anson Shupea}
}
