The Sacred in Cyberspace

The cyberspace has the potential for communication, dialogue, collaboration and participation in a virtual environment transcending space and time. Its ever mushrooming tools like Web 2.0 have the capability of bringing virtuality into reality and dream into concrete. Cyberspace could change real relationship into virtual, nature into artificial images, physical community into virtual community and space into cyberspace. It brings a change in the perception of individuals and society. It is also effective to change the way people think about themselves: their spirituality, religious practices and their interconnected destiny. The power of cyberspace disseminates itself with a new set of world-views and ideologies that challenge the existing traditional values and ethos. The younger generation is especially influenced by these novel changes. Yet these changes which however pose challenges to the society. It massively affects people both positively and negatively as well. Religious concepts and practices are no exceptions to this. Hence it is an urgent need of the religious communities to reflect on its promises, opportunities and challenges and consequently situate the possibilities of e-ministries. In response to the changes and challenges in the cyberspace-influenced world, the present study makes a contextual examination of how religious practices are affected by the advancements of computer network communication technologies and makes an assessment of the cybermedia for e-Ministries. It explores e-Ministry-enhancing tools and makes practical propositions for an effective use of web communication media as a potential tool for e-Ministries.