Blogging my religion : secular, Muslim, and Catholic media spaces in Europe / Giulia Evolvi.

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of figures; Acknowledgments; Introduction: discussing religious change in Catholic Europe; Why Catholic Europe?; Why blogs?; The story of this book; About this book; 1 The hypermediation of religion: situating religion in a media-saturated world; Defining "religion"; Defining "media"; The hypermediation of religion; 2 Hypermediated religious spaces: conceptualizing religion in digital spaces; Mainstream and alternative spaces; Public and private spaces; Real and imaginary spaces; Hypermediated religious spaces in practice

3 Muslim and European: spaces to defeat stereotypes and articulate hybrid identitiesIslam in Europe: a short summary; EMF: I have pain in my France; Yalla: Muslim in my own way; Conclusion: imagining a multifaith society; 4 Thank God I'm an atheist: digital spaces for the promotion of laïcité; Atheism in Europe: a short summary; UUAR: fighting the Italian papolatria; UFAL: exercising a gymnastique laïque; Conclusion: imagining a secular society; 5 Who is afraid of gender? Catholic anti-gender spaces of public protest; Anti-gender groups in Europe: a short summary

LMPT: protesting against familiphobieSentinelle in Piedi: screaming in silence; Sentinelle in Piedi and media; Sentinelle in Piedi and religious authority; Conclusion: imagining a Catholic society; 6 Conclusion: creating hypermediated spaces of religious change in Catholic Europe; The present of hypermediated religious spaces; The future of hypermediated religious spaces; Index

Religion in Europe is currently undergoing changes that are reconfiguring physical and virtual spaces of practice and belief, and these changes need to be understood with regards to the proliferation of digital media discourses. This book explores religious change in Europe through a comparative approach that analyzes Atheist, Catholic, and Muslim blogs as spaces for articulating narratives about religion that symbolically challenge the power of religious institutions. The book adds theoretical complexity to the study of religion and digital media with the concept of hypermediated religious spaces. The theory of hypermediation helps to critically discuss the theory of secularization and to contextualize religious change as the result of multiple entangled phenomena. It considers religion as being connected with secular and post-secular spaces, and media as embedding material forms, institutions, and technologies. A spatial perspective contextualizes hypermediated religious spaces as existing at the interstice of alternative and mainstream, private and public, imaginary and real venues. By offering the innovative perspective of hypermediated religious spaces, this book will be of significant interest to scholars of religious studies, the sociology of religion, and digital media.

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