The Reputational Configuration of Religion and Religious Communities in the Post-Digital Public Sphere

Our project investigates how the reputation of different religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) is negotiated and perceived in digitalized societies. Reputation is crucial for the legitimacy and recognition of religious institutions and actors. Digitalization creates new opportunities, but also risks. The result is a fragmented public sphere in which the authority and legitimacy of religion is negotiated disparately. This makes reputation building more dynamic and opens it up to the voices of a wide range of actors, including those based in civil society. However, it is also becoming riskier due to the fact that critical and emotionalizing discourse on tech platforms promises a wide reach and high level of user engagement.

Using quantitative surveys, computer-assisted methods and qualitative interviews, we analyze reputation attributions, evaluations, self-descriptions and descriptions by external parties as well as the role and influence of religions in social discourses and vice versa. Overall, our project provides novel insights into the role of tech platforms, actors and topics in religious reputation building in the context of digitalized and democratic societies.