Religion online. Given the centrality of the internet to my research, one of the more challenging aspects of (post/ de)secularisation theories is that they often give limited attention to role of the internet as a vector of religious practice and of wider social change in Western societies. Instead, the rapidly growing, inter-disciplinary field of religion online, which focuses on how religion and internet mediated technologies interact and inform each other, proved a useful entry-point for analysing how women’s blogging about religious dress is an enactment of online religious identities. Early research in this area drew a distinction between religion online and online religion, where the former describes the online presence of mosques, churches and synagogues online, originally largely replicating offline structures but in an online space (see for instance Xxxxxxx, in Xxxxxx and Xxxxx 2001:7). Religion online included commercial sites that sold religious books and other religious paraphernalia. Conversely, many of the early studies of online religion were based on primary research about New Religious Movements (see Xxxxxxxx 2007:1048). A challenging, early implication of studies of online religious was that the internet would not necessarily xxxxx in secularisation, but would either reinforce religious practice or remove religious hierarchies in those religions that remained vibrant. At the very least, such approaches have the benefit over secularisation theories in that they consider the importance of the internet to religions, as the internet is seen, at the very least, as a force for ‘change’ (Xxxxxxx 2001:34) – both online and off. For Xxxxxxx, taking such online religious practice seriously on its own terms, means considering online religion as religion by and for individuals, rather than institutions, enacted in an online space. He draws on research about both religions such as Catholicism, as well as New Religious Movements including neo-pagans and Wiccans (2001:28), virtual churches such as Alpha Church and what he terms ‘web-oriented religious organizations’ such as Digitalism or Technosophy (2001:32).16 According to Xxxxxxx, for those who live their religion on the internet, there is no division between their offline and online beliefs (Xxxxxxx 2005:12). Non-hierarchical, personalised networked religious structures are therefore the religious uses of the internet that Xxxxxxx believes to have the greatest potential longevity. However, while what I study is prim...
