Internet Memes and User-Generated Religion

For your case study paper each of you will be exploring an example of religious internet memes and how/what they communicate about religion. Internet memes are concepts or ideas that carry a cultural meaning taking the form of videos, images or texts that  are adapted to a particular message and spreads swiftly via the internet. A variety of religious memes can be found online and they can be designed to communicate  a range of playful, sarcastic or even sacrilegious messages. They can be focused around a particular religious figure such as Jesus or the Pope, or even be used to express religious identity or make theological  critiques, housed in  online religious meme collections such as Anglican Memes or Buddhist Memes. What other kinds of religious memes have you come across on the internet and what seem to be the intention of their messages?

Welcome to COMM 663

Welcome! This is the class blog for Comm 663: Digital Religion being taught at Texas A&M University in Fall 2013. In this class we will explore the intersection between new media, religion and digital culture and how digital media contribute to the performance lived religion. . The blog will be used as a space  to discuss issues raised in class, especially related to our collaborative class project on user-generated religion online.  I look forward to a great semester learning together about  how religious communities negotiate their use of media and how user-generated religion  is performed online. -Dr Heidi Campbell