Internet age has affected all disciplines as well as theology (theology) and religious life.Religious technologies (using technology in religious learning and lifestyles) have led to the telling of religion through social networks, and the transfer of religious content and religious experiences to the internet environment, together with the internet.
The clergy, who are generally distant from what is "new", sometimes dismissing and cursing as "the invention of the devil" or "the antichrist", could not resist this change any longer and then appeared on television, gave sermons on their social media accounts, set the agenda, opened YouTube channels and there.Started recruiting subscribers and creating virtual communities.
Online sermons, response and hatim ceremonies, religious mobile applications, worship technologies have become a part of life.
Now, we can ease our consciences without feeling alone in our virtual communities.Where we are not bound by any obligation, but without burdening ourselves with any responsibility.Communication professor Jan Van Dijk, who introduced the concept of virtual community that covers all groups and communities on the internet , says that while people must have many interests in order to be a member of a traditional community, a single common interest may be sufficient to become a member of a virtual community.These virtual communities do not ask for commitment from us, but offer us a spiritual purification, but also a sense of belonging.Dr. Gülenay Pınarbaşı(Turkish) does this in Spiritual Network.In his book, he attributes people to clinging to institutions while they want to believe, to avoiding the responsibility that institutionalized religions impose on them.Virtual communities do not turn to religion that interferes with their lives, but to individual faith experiences where they can get clear answers to their questions,
sometimes even blended with other beliefs and embellished with mysterious beliefs. This is our new generation understanding of religion.Those who receive lots of “likes” instead of Allah’s consent.
How did it start, how does it continue?
The use of technology by Muslims in their religious learning took place after the spread of all mass media.Sermon tapes, radio and television, then the internet has taken its place among the indispensable.In worship technologies, religious practices and tools changed religious life in various ways.This change brought with it a concept that we can call “techno-religious”.Which Büşra Doğan pointed out with her master's thesis titled “Interaction of Religious People with Religious Technological Tools: Techno-Religious Practices”.
In this direction, for the religious experiences existing in the current technology; The pen that reads the Qur'an , the rosary that speaks, the dhikrmatik, the qiblah prayer rug that leads the prayer.The cup that draws basmala and religious mobile applications are all extensions of worship technology.Here Quran pen reading, speaking kıblegâh prayer, zikirmatik, besmele attracts techno-religious in case of tool users such as cups, it took part in the position of the carrier techno-culture.
Techno-religious people:who quickly adapted to worship technologies, moved to the digital religion era and benefited from all the blessings of technology.This period introduced us to the phenomenon of “virtual religion”.
The concept of “virtual religion” was widely used to express the aforementioned phenomenon in the process of meeting religious content on the internet from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.
After the 2000s, with the increase in the level of interactivity in the internet environment, sociologist-author Christopher Helland, in his article titled "Online-Religion/Religion Online and Virtual Communitas" (2000), expressed the "Religion Online" and He conceptualized it as "Online Religion" Which refers to religion/religions' use of the internet and new media as a medium of interaction.
Some religious rituals have started to be implemented all over the world with the opportunities brought by the digital environment.The religious rituals that started by listening to the mevlit on television and participating in the Friday prayer continue by giving zakat "with one click", sending online hatim via WhatsApp and Zoom applications, and watching and participating in the sacrifice of the votive sacrifice in another part of the world via FaceTime.
The commemoration ceremony, which was held on computer networks and attended by thousands of people, for the deceased crew of the space shuttle Challenger.Which crashed shortly after its launch in 1986, is one of the first examples of these rituals.
In the ritual, passages from the Bible , prayers and pictures were shared.With the development of digital technology.We have gone further in rituals and examples such as virtual pilgrimages, online prayer to the Wailing Wall, online puja (a ritual of worship in Buddhism and Hinduism) and rituals in virtual churches have emerged.
Towards religion simulation
The age of the Internet and artificial intelligence is changing both the "perception of reality".The relationship that the individual establishes with religion and the methods of obtaining religious knowledge, by creating a language, culture and moral understanding of its own.
Religious information transferred to the virtual environment eliminates the source of information and transforms information into information, with the elimination of the human (scholar/arif) element.Which has a central position in the transmission of information in Islamic civilization.
Thus, our techno-religious people prefer a confused and superficial religious knowledge / life that is open to manipulation The right method at the point of access to information and far from the truth.Because the information he is exposed to in the digital world only imitates reality.He thinks that he is "informed" with these contents that are detached from the techno-religious context.
However, digitalization is making religion more and more consumable.With the arrival of artificial intelligence.It is obvious that there will be much more disinformation if the process is not managed well and the role models of the society are not good examples.Because the issue will not end with the transformation of religion into consumption material, artificial intelligence preachers will emerge who give the religious information we want to hear in order to create their own digital religion.While the example of Japan and Poland took its place in the past as the most innocent examples of this trend, more serious disinformation can be realized by these artificial intelligence preachers / imams.
In fact, it is one of the strong possibilities that these artificial intelligence preachers are used by those who have artificial intelligence technologies and financial power as a means of propaganda.They play an active role in their political, ideological and sociological orientations and in reaching the recipients of the ideas they want to spread.It was used by humans as one of the most suitable materials for its construction.
Now, propaganda tools are much faster and their usage areas are much wider.While this rapid change is about to surround our lives by creating a religion simulation Every person or institution dealing with social sciences needs to plan the sociological infrastructure of the future with interdisciplinary studies in order to take countermeasures.
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