Theme: The internet appears to have witnessed an explosion in religious quest and observance during the pandemic.
A Church of England vicar with 176,000 Instagram followers, a young Imam whose following increased tenfold in the pandemic, church worship attracting four times as many people online as in person, the internet appears to have witnessed an explosion in religious quest and observance during the pandemic. The dramatic change was the subject of a Religion Media Centre online briefing on the impact of Covid-19 on religion in the UK.
Christopher Lamb spoke to the Rev Chris Lee, an Anglican vicar with an internet following bigger than the Church of England, who said:
“It’s been a wild ride of communicating this message of hope on a platform often seen as superficial”.
Joining the conversation were:
- The Rev Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, blogger and vicar of St Luke in the City, Liverpool
- Salim Kassam, co-founder and Editor in Chief of The Muslim Vibe
- Rev Dr Peter Phillips, Director of the CODEC Research Centre for Digital Theology, University of Durham
- Sabah Ahmedi, the “Young Imam” on Instagram
Report: Communicating religion online: it’s been a wild ride
The internet appears to have witnessed an explosion in religious quest and observance during the pandemic.
“living through a pandemic felt like a war”
– Rev Chris Lee
