Faith in the net: towards the creation of digital networks of religious acknowledgement and recognition

Abstract: Undoubtedly, the technological revolution in information and communications causing major changes in citizens’ social interactions. The new reticular rationality offers the possibility of shaping, developing, and strengthening social networks and virtual communities. All of them facilitate the creation of new interactive spaces, new social collectives promoting citizenship and that, from different social fields and levels of experience, articulate and streamline processes of production, circulation and appropriation of new symbolic products. Such products contribute not only to generating new sources of knowledge but, above all, to strengthening processes of citizen interaction. In such processes, the field of media, religiosities and socio-cultural processes are strategically intertwined. In this context, experiences of civic religiosity find in the potential generated by the global network, new possibilities of interaction and religious recognition. Also new forms and spaces to share plural options of faith and socio-religious practices that make sense of the existence of cybernauts. This text is divided into three parts: First, critically contextualizes the global phenomenon of social networks. Second, it makes an approximation to some experiences of digital networks of religious recognition from Latin America. Finally, raises some questions that arise from such virtual practices. Keywords: Internet, social networks, religious digital networks, social practices and social interaction, recognition *** Resume: La revolution technologique de l'information et de la communication continue de provoquer de grands changements dans les interactions sociales des citoyens. La nouvelle rationalite reticulaire offre la possibilite de faconner, developper et renforcer les reseaux sociaux et les communautes virtuels. Tous facilitent la creation de nouveaux espaces interactifs, de nouveaux groupes sociaux promouvant la citoyennete qui, a partir de differents champs sociaux et niveaux d'experience, articulent et dynamisent les processus de production, de circulation et d'appropriation de nouveaux produits symboliques. De tels produits contribuent puissamment, non seulement a generer de nouvelles sources de connaissances, mais surtout a renforcer les processus d'interaction citoyenne. Dans ces processus, le domaine des medias, des religiosites et des processus socioculturels sont strategiquement interconnectes. Dans ce contexte, les experiences de religiosite citoyenne trouvent dans le potentiel genere par le reseau mondial, de nouvelles possibilites d'interaction et de reconnaissance religieuse. Il existe egalement de nouveaux moyens et espaces pour partager des options plurielles de foi et de pratiques socio-religieuses qui donnent un sens a l'existence des internautes. Ce texte est divise en trois parties: Premierement, il contextualise de maniere critique le phenomene global des reseaux sociaux. Deuxiemement, il fait une approximation de certaines experiences de reseaux numeriques de reconnaissance religieuse d'Amerique latine. Enfin, il souleve quelques questions qui decoulent de ces pratiques virtuelles. Mots-cles: Internet, reseaux sociaux, reseaux numeriques religieux, pratiques sociales et interaction sociale, reconnaissance