Religion Online

Recently, I had purchased my copy of Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season I on DVD. Buffy is a popular US television show about a young girl who was born with the power to defeat vampyrs, demons and other evil creatures of lure.

Because it had been such a long time since I had seen the episodes, I rewatched them... all. One episode in particular, I, Robot - You, Jane caught my interest. In the episode, a demon that had been trapped into a book was unleashed into a computer and the Internet when the contents of the book were scanned in. Unleashed, this demon uses the Internet and his powers to entrance students from Sunnydale to become his servants. Along with Buffy, there is a character, Giles, who assists her in most episodes in researching and discovering how to defeat the evil creatures. Only this time, Giles runs into a barrier, technophobia. He's afraid to approach the computer to do anything. They call in the assistance of the new computer teacher in the school, Jenny Calendar. In order to get her assistance, Giles must try to figure out some way to explain to her that demons, vampyrs and all those creatures of myth are real. He's surprisingly saved from the task when she admits she's a techno-pagan. To defeat the creature, they must create a magical circle to entrap the demon inside. Since the creature is on the Internet, Jenny uses her other techno-pagans via online chat to create a virtual circle.

I realized while I was watching this that the concept of a religious person embracing technology as this character Jenny did seemed awkward to me. I've never been a very religious person. Many of the religions I've been exposed to seem to constantly be in conflict with technology (stories of creation and beliefs in healing). But upon reflection, the Internet has actually been embraced by many orders of religion as a means to spread information and thus their religion to the world. Just looking at Suite101's topics alone, we have over 44 entries directly under the Religion category and a good number listed under sociology as well. I know that religion is always a hot topic under the The Lounge and The Forum. Many of the people I respect here at Suite101 are also very religious people. These people are not afraid to admit their religious preferences and speak about it openly with others.

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