When virtuality shapes social reality: fake cults and the church of the flying spaghetti monster
Following the “Internet Revolution”, the creation of online religions (religions mainly existing in the virtual world) gave birth to so-called “parody” or fake cults. One of these “religions”, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has started as a (an atheist) parody mocking (monotheistic) rel...
| Published in: | Online - Heidelberg journal of religions on the internet |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Heidelberg University Publishing
2015
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| In: |
Online - Heidelberg journal of religions on the internet
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Pastafarianismus
/ Virtual reality
/ Social realism
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| Further subjects: | B
Church Flying Spaghetti Monster
B Epistemology B Virtuality B fake cults B Religion B Internet |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Following the “Internet Revolution”, the creation of online religions (religions mainly existing in the virtual world) gave birth to so-called “parody” or fake cults. One of these “religions”, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has started as a (an atheist) parody mocking (monotheistic) religious institutions, mostly established and spreading in the Informational circuits of the WorldWideWeb. In a few years, it has not only mimicked most of the features of a traditional religion, but the “pirates”-followers of the CFSM also look for the recognition of their cult as “official religion”. Moreover, while online religions and especially “fake cults” are most of the times used by scholars as examples of a shift from “reality” to “virtuality” caused by the Internet, the CFSM exemplifies, quite the reverse, a process of social “materialization” of this previously “virtual” cult. |
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| ISSN: | 1861-5813 |
| Contains: | In: Online - Heidelberg journal of religions on the internet
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.11588/rel.2015.0.20327 URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-rel-203272 |