"With 13 religions, 8061 religious centers, 2 million of young people, Catalonia accommodates a wide range of religions. Almost 90% of people own digital devices. In this framework, we aim to study the consumption of digital media by Catalan millennials from all over the region, with only young peop
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le from the city of Barcelona being excluded for the purpose of analysis in future projects. Religious apps, games, websites, online communities and participation in forums are some of the main issues we want to explore. We also aim to establish whether or not these devices contribute to consolidate online religious communities and to achieve inter-religious dialogue. For fulfilling this goal, we surveyed more than 1800 young people aged 12–18 years. Methodology also included in-depth interviews with coordinators from youth organizations and netnography. This research is based on previous investigations into communication, digital media, sociology and religion by authors such as Campbell, Elzo, Leurs and Hemming." (Abstract)
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"The article discusses the relationship of young engaged Catholics in Slovakia to the various media outlets which they follow. It attempts to reveal which media outlets are considered to be inspiring and thought-provoking and how are they perceived and evaluated by their followers. The author draws
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from extensive research into the interpretation of Church news and current affairs within the community of young engaged Catholics; therefore, the findings related to media reception presented herein also include demographical and personality characteristics for individual audiences. The findings are also presented within the context of three specific Church-related news stories: the contentious removal of Róbert Bezák from his position as Archbishop of Trnava, the financial separation of the Church and state, and clerical celibacy. The underlying research was conducted using combined questionnaires, both quantitative and qualitative, on a sample of 339 suitable respondents. The research reveals that the most inspiring Slovak media outlet according to the young engaged Catholics is the secular weekly týžden, followed by the Catholic television channel Lux. The research has revealed a significant discrepancy between the opinions of the audiences of secular media and the audiences of official Church media: while the former are very critical of Church media, the latter seem to be more reluctant to turn to secular media." (Abstract)
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"Apresentam-se os objetivos e as impressões da pesquisa sobre a comunicação da Igreja Católica com os jovens, tendo como estudo de caso a Jornada Mundial da Juventude 2013. Avaliam-se as estratégias comunicacionais da instituição católica no Brasil direcionadas à juventude, seu potencial co
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municativo ao sediar o maior evento católico do mundo, o perfil do jovem católico conectado aos meios digitais e as possíveis disparidades entre o que a Igreja fornece em termos de comunicação e as demandas do público jovem inserido na comunidade eclesial ou a ser evangelizado por ela. O trabalho conta com uma pesquisa de campo realizada durante a Jornada Mundial da Juventude, uma segunda etapa de pesquisa enviada pelos meios digitais para peregrinos que participaram do evento, entrevistas com responsáveis por setores da comunicação institucional católica e pesquisadores da área, e a análise de documentos da Igreja Católica sobre comunicação e juventude." (Resumo)
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"Overall, the evaluators found that the project’s approach was quite relevant in promoting religious freedom and preventing religious radicalization. The project targeted pesantrens affiliated to the traditional Islam Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and at the same time, it empowered the mainstream moderate
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Islam that has been seen as ‘silent majority’. Subsequently, it provided a countermeasure against the ‘vocal minority’ extremists in the country. In this regard, a similar attempt could have been done among the modernist Islam Muhammadiyah educational institutions, which have older roots in Indonesian society. Radio programs have been attractively designed, especially for the young audience, and encouraged them to be agents of change among the Muslim community. The progressive Islamic study programs clearly provided theological basis for religious freedom and against religious violence. Meanwhile, the video documentary provided the students a reality check, a chance to deal with the real world’s cultural and religious diversity. Both activities were sufficient and complemented each other, in rising their critical awareness on the issues of tolerance and radicalization. The pesantren based radio broadcasting service has been seen as a spiritual oasis by its surrounding community, and facilitated them to digest the moderate Islamic knowledge. Otherwise, they would fulfill their spiritual hunger with another kind of religiousity which is radical and extremist in nature. However, not all of the radio stations pay equal attention to both targets: the young students and the community members. Due to some considerations, some pesantrens prefer to focus on serving the external beneficiaries (community), while ignoring the internal ones (young students). Some pesantrens
unexpectedly did the contrary. In this case, regular monitoring is necessary to ensure and remind stakeholders to meet their actual objectives." (Executive summary)
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"Shaman, paragon, God-mode: modern video games are heavily coded with religious undertones. From the Shinto-inspired Japanese video game 'Okami' to the internationally popular 'The Legend of Zelda' and 'Halo', many video games rely on religious themes and symbols to drive the narrative and frame the
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storyline. 'Playing with Religion in Digital Games' explores the increasingly complex relationship between gaming and global religious practices. For example, how does religion help organize the communities in MMORPGs such as 'World of Warcraft'? What role has censorship played in localizing games like 'Actraiser' in the western world? How do evangelical Christians react to violence, gore, and sexuality in some of the most popular games such as 'Mass Effect' or 'Grand Theft Auto'?" (Publisher description)
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"The following stories come from ten pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) in Indonesia that participated in Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Indonesia’s project to promote peace and tolerance in pesantren across Indonesia [...] Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Indonesia implemented this two-year pro
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ject from September 2011 to February 2014, in partnership with The Wahid Institute and Perhimpunan Pengembangan Pesantren dan Masyarakat (P3M). With a total number of 18,000 schools across Indonesia, pesantren are the oldest basis of Islamic education in the country and highly influential in spreading tolerance and peace. Through the production of radio and short films by pesantren students or santri, SFCG Indonesia sought to encourage male and female pesantren leaders, teachers and students to be critical in dealing with problems of intolerance and radicalism, while also disseminating the values of tolerance and peace in their communities. The stories documented in this book serve as a future reference of the project’s successes. The book records the significant changes experienced by the santri and their teachers, when these changes occurred and the important lessons learned from this project. Out of the ten pesantren that participated in the project, SFCG selected five pesantren to provide stories that illustrate the changes mentioned above. This book summarizes seven stories from the perspectives of pesantren students, leaders and teachers." (Foreword)
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"This paper analyzes the dissemination of ‘Hijaber’ style through different forms of cyber media (blogs and social network sites) in order to determine how young, computer savvy Muslim Indonesians explore their gender and religious identities while working in the ‘creative economy’ through c
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yberspace. This article shows the plurality and flexibility of the Hijaber trend—compared to more conventional forms—and explores its significance for urban Indonesian youth." (Abstract)
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"Martin Dreyer, der 1965 geborene Gründer der Jesus Freaks, startete 2004 das Volxbibel-Projekt, dessen sprachlicher Duktus im oben angeführten Zitat ironisch aufgegriffen wird. Anders als bei kommunikativen Übersetzungen der letzten fünfzig Jahre (bspw. Hoffnung für alle 3 oder Gute Nachricht
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4) ging es ihm nicht nur um einen zeitgemäßen und allgemeinverständlichen Sprachstil. Die Volxbibel sollte von Jugendlichen für Jugendliche ›übersetzt‹ werden, was durch ein Open-Source-Modell im Internet verwirklicht wurde. Seit der Jahrtausendwende entstanden neben dem Volxbibel-Projekt drei weitere Bibelprojekte, die eng mit dem Medium Internet verknüpft sind und im Folgenden kurz vorgestellt werden sollen. Kurz nachdem das Volxbibel-Projekt konkrete Formen annahm, wurde in der Deutschen Bibelgesellschaft der Entschluss gefasst, eine neue, moderne Bibelübersetzung in Angriff zu nehmen. Es handelt sich bei der BasisBibel um eine von ausgebildeten Theologen und Philologen vorgenommene Übersetzung, bei deren Erstellung die Bedingungen der neuen Medien besondere Berücksichtigung fanden – sei es in der Distribution, der multimedialen Präsentation oder der Interaktion mit Lesern [...] Das Phänomen der LOLCats (›laughing-out-loud-cat‹) lässt sich bis ins Jahr 2006 zurückverfolgen. In diversen Foren wurden Fotos von Katzen mit witzigen Sprüchen versehen, die meist in einem orthographisch und grammatikalisch fehlerhaften Englisch verfasst waren, dem sogenannten Kitty-Pidgin. Bereits 2007 konnte eine kommerziell betriebene Webseite mit LOLCat-Bildern Gewinne erzielen. Im Herbst desselben Jahres gründete der College-Student Martin Grondin ein Projekt, bei dem Internetnutzer aufgerufen sind, auf der wiki-ähnlich strukturierten Seite www.lolcatbible.com die King-James-Übersetzung in Kitty-Pidgin umzuformulieren [...] Ähnlich spielerisch war der Rekordversuch, den die Redaktion des Internetportals www.evangelisch.de zum Kirchentag 2009 startete. Registrierte Nutzer des Portals und Besucher des Kirchentags sollten innerhalb von zehn Tagen die komplette Luther-Übersetzung in 140 Zeichen lange Twitter-Beiträge umformulieren. Das Ergebnis wurde im selben Jahr unter dem Titel … Und Gott chillte veröffentlicht, kann aber auch weiterhin im Internet eingesehen und kommentiert werden." (Seite 137-138)
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"Religious forwarded messages take the form of points for reflection and reminders of religious feasts. In other cases, the messages ask recipients to pray and re-send the same messages in exchange for Divine favor. This study explores the youth's first response to these messages. It aims to learn u
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seful insights that may enhance pastoral ministry for young people, so immersed in cell phone use. The findings show that religious SMS help remind young people of God. But they do not attribute the messages to Divine Providence alone. Response to religious SMS results from an interplay of factors, including the sender himself." (Abstract)
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"The religious presence on TV programs has been increasing in Brazil, where churches, especially the neopentecostals, have been using the mass communication ways, especially the television, to advertise their messages and attract new followers. This project studies the usage of television by religio
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ns neopentecostals groups and intends to understand how this schedule is perceived by the young people. A research was conducted with young members of Brazilian churches Igreja Apostólica Renascer em Cristo, Bola de Neve Church, Igreja Internacional da Graça de Deus, and Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus and an analysis will be done as well of the TV shows “Clip Gospel Show”, “Bola TV”, “Show da Fé”, and “Fala Que Eu Te Escuto”, produced respectively by those religious groups." (Abstract)
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"This book contains the main presentations and final statement of the Fourth Bishops Institute for Social Communication (BISCOM IV) on E- Generation: The Communication of Young People in Asia. It reflects not only the actual BISCOM presentations but also serves as documentation for everybody interes
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ted and concerned about the Church and young people in Asia." (Publisher description)
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