Book Reveiw # 4 - Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives

This is most recent review of my book: Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives. Previous reviews [published in Sept 2006, Scarecrow Press]

"Visit the Sistine Chapel, attend the Church of Satan, have a question (dial a priest)... would be a useful addition to high school and university reference collections. " ARBA (American Reference Books Annual), vol. 38 (2007)

NB. American Reference Books Annual (ARBA) is Free this week (April 15 - 22, 2007, to celebrate the national library week), read my review online for free:
Publisher: Scarecrow, Lanham, MD (2006)
Price: $45.00pa
ISBN/ISSN: 0-8108-5257-8
Content Area: RELIGIONS
Handbooks and Yearbooks; General Works; Religion; Philosophy and Religion
John W. Storey - Professor of History, Lamar Univ., Beaumont, Tex
ARBA 2007

Several scholars have noted the zest with which American Pentecostals in the twentieth century have taken to the airwaves via radio, television, and satellite to proclaim an "old fashioned gospel," as if there were something anomalous about using cutting-edge means of communication to advance an "old" point of view. In fact, however, religious leaders and institutions have always embraced the latest marvels of modern technology to spread their message. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that religion has found the Internet, and the resulting opportunities for cyber worship are practically unlimited. This study by Mohamed Taher, educated in Indian universities and currently an information specialist at the Ontario Multifaith Council on Spiritual and Religious Care in Toronto, Canada, provides the most comprehensive "map" to religion on the Internet.This is not a guide to "everything one needs to know" about various religious expressions. Instead, it shows how religion functions on the Internet and points toward the remarkable array of religious practices available at one's fingertips. From mainline religions, whether Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist, to "alternative traditions," such as new age movements, paganism, cults, nonconformists, or nonmainstream spiritualities, Taher has cataloged them all. Visit the Sistine Chapel, attend the Church of Satan, have a question (dial a priest)-it is all possible through cyber worship. Without leaving one's living room an individual can have a simulated religious experience from around the globe. Circumnavigation is made earlier with this study, which would be a useful addition to high school and university reference collections.

Cyber worship in Multifaith perspective - part1

Cyber worship in Multifaith perspective - part2

Cyber worship in Multifaith perspective - part3

Cyber worship in Multifaith perspective - part4

Two New Books in Multifaith Perspectives

I came across two new books today, with common threads that explain the emergence of faiths and belief systems (in physical and virtual, respectively), focusing on theories (sociological, anthropological), forces (philosophical, theological) and most importantly, my favorite, i.e., taxonomies.

A word about what makes these distinct:

One deals with evolution of the world religions' influence on European geography; and the other is all-ado-about the cyberspace, with samples from virtual domains in online religions / religions online (or e-religions).
Furthermore, the first title drew my attention with its sub-title on pluralism; and second, for Web analytics, my yet another favorite.

The invention of world religions, or, How European universalism was preserved in the language of pluralism / Tomoko Masuzawa (U Chicago, 2005). Table of contents @ Library of Congress
* reviewed in:

Boettcher, S.R. "The Invention of Worls Religions: Or, How European Universalism was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism.(Brief article)(Book review)." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries 43.8 (April 2006): 1419-1420. InfoTrac Information Science & Technology eCollection.
[Tomoko Masuzawa teaches European intellectual history and critical theory at the University of Michigan, where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of History and the Program in Comparative Literature. She is the author of In Search of Dream Time: The Quest for the Origin of Religion, also published by the University of Chicago Press.]

E-religion : a critical appraisal of religious discourse on the World Wide Web / Anastasia Karaflogka (Equinox, 2007). @ Table of contents @ Library of Congress
About the author:

[Anastasia Karaflogka is lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, She has designed and teaches a course on religion and cyberspace. Her research interests include religion and: Information Communication Technologies; immersive virtual realities; cyberrituals; robotics and theory and method of cyverreligious discourses. She has contributed to various publications, most recently to the journals Predicting Religion and Religion.]

My related books and publications:

Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives

Taxonomy of Faiths: A semantic journey

My related book reviews:

Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices. Gale Thompson, 2006. Journal of Religious and Theological Info [in press]

Birgit Schabler and Leif Stenberg, Editors. Globalization and the Muslim World: Culture, Religion, and Modernity Syracuse Univ. Press, 2004.. MELA Notes [in press]

Linda Main. Building Websites for a Multinational Audience. Scarecrow Press, 2002. Information Processing and Management, 40, 2004, 583-585.

Julie M. Still. The Accidental Webmaster, Information Today Inc. 2003. Information Resources Management Journal 17, 2004, 79-80.

Melody Y. Ivory. Automated Web Site Evaluation: Researchers' and Practitioners' Perspectives. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003. Information Processing and Management, Jan2007, Vol. 43 Issue 1, p. 288-290

Ali Mirsepassi and others, editors. Localizing Knowledge in a Globalizing World: Recasting the Area Studies Debate Syracuse Univ. Press, 2003.MELA Notes 78 (2005): 71-74

Barry Wellman and Caroline Haythornthwaite, Edtors. The Internet in Everyday Life. Blackwell Publishers, 2003. Information Resources Management Journal, 19(1), 98-100, January-March 2006 [Other reviews from my desktop]

My related blog posts:

Cyber Worship Revisited - Balaji, a Hindu priest offering prayers
Special Issue from Religious Studies Review on Religion & Internet

Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds

Christian Librarianship

Web Vastu or A Spiritual Worldview for Marketing Website

Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet

Cyber Worship Revisited - Balaji, a Hindu priest offering prayers

Folks are finding religion online
By KEVIN SULLIVAN, The Washington Post, © March 18, 2007
TIRUCHIRAPALLI, India - Balaji, a Hindu priest, stood before the reclining god and offered a plate of coconut and bananas. His chest bare and his face adorned with red and yellow sacred paste, he set the food at the foot of a statue Hindus regard as an embodiment of the powerful god Vishnu.

Following ancient tradition deep inside one of India's oldest and holiest temples, he chanted Vishnu's names 108 times to beseech health, wealth and good fortune - not for himself but for an Indian emigrant living in London who had bought the prayer with her credit card on a Hindu Web site.
The Internet has become a hub of religious worship for millions of people around the world. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Sikhs and people of other faiths turn regularly to Web sites to pray, meditate and gather in "virtual" houses of worship graphically designed to look like the real thing. Some sites offer rites from baptism to confession to conversion to Judaism.

For many cyber-worshipers, online religious life conducted at home or in an Internet cafe has replaced attendance at traditional churches, temples, mosques and synagogues. Some are coming to religion for the first time, in a setting they find as comfortable as their grandparents found a church pew, while millions of people reared on churchgoing are discovering new ways to worship. [Continue reading or read this: Linking Ancient and Modern, A Worldwide Web of Worship]

A comment on the above article:

This seems, to me, like an interesting use of LR quadrant technology (exterior collective) with LL quadrant culture (interior collective), which, for the person involved, has an impact on the UL quadrant psychology (interior individual).

OK, once more in English – I like the way technology is being used in this example as a tool for assisting people with fervent cultural religious belief to satisfy their drive to have their prayers placed in the most auspicious temples. Clearly this is a very superstitious belief system, and one that some of us might see as pre-rational, but for those who hold the beliefs it can be very important to their sense of well-being to know that they have done their best to seek favor from the Gods
[more from this comment: Putting Prayers in Your Shopping Cart, @ WH's Blog

My related posts:

Special Issue from Religious Studies Review on Religion & Internet

Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds

Christian Librarianship

Web Vastu or A Spiritual Worldview for Marketing Website

Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet

Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives

Nothing Has Worked

Buddhist dilemma over ants
Buddhist monks in Malaysia are struggling to combat an infestation of stinging red ants - without killing any of them.
Monks at the Hong HockSee Temple in Kuala Lumpur face a moral dilemma because of their belief in non-violence.

Malaysian monks tested by ant invasion
Washington Times, DC - 13 Mar 2007
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Buddhist monks, who are bound by faith to nonviolence, are grappling with how to rid a temple of a severe ant infestation

Ants test nonviolence of Buddhist monks
MRT online, Macedonia - 13 Mar 2007
"Nothing has worked." The temple's chief monk, Boon Keng, was quoted by The Star newspaper as saying that the monks had to "respect other living things" in ...

Special Issue from Religious Studies Review on Religion & Internet

PS. Information courtesy: Soup Twin-1 @ When Religion Meets New Media

The latest issue of Religious Studies Review may be of interest to those doing work on religion online...

Special Issue: Religion and the Internet
Guest Editor: Christopher Helland

Read the introduction by Guest Editor Christopher Helland FREE on Blackwell-Synergy

My related posts:

Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds

Christian Librarianship

Web Vastu or A Spiritual Worldview for Marketing Website

Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet

Cyber Worship in Multifaith Perspectives

Monkeys wed for Hindu-Muslim unity

Satyarth Prakash Nayak
CNN-IBN, March 07, 2007
Cuttack (Orissa): It is what can be called an inter-religious marriage with a difference. The bride and groom were slightly down the evolutionary ladder than most couples. Continue reading the full story

Forgive Me When I Whine, by Red Foley

Album: MY KEEPSAKE ALBUM

Text: The World Is Mine - Lord Forgive Me When I Whine

In Images @ Google Images

Send this poem via Greeting card @ Home with God

Text again (Indonesian adaptation): Ya Allah

Nasheed from Zain Bikha's Album 'Mountains of Mecca' Presented By Yamustafa.com, audio

Graphics (Christian version with background music from the song, "Tell Me That Story"):

Voice (Arab adaptation):
Ahmed Bukhatir with Arabic Music and Islamic prayer:

See also on Forgiveness from a co-blogger:

To err is human; to forgive, infrequent.....

Bottomline: The image here, courtesy Bro Junaid, facilitated, my 2 cents worth, i.e., creating this blog post.