Religion, the sacred and changing cultures of everyday life

In recent decades, developed societies have been transformed by the rise of consumer culture and the expansion of existing and new forms of media. These changes to the landscapes of people's everyday lives have also had a significant effect on contemporary forms of religion. Religious identities and lifestyles are now pursued through buying books, CD's, pictures, material objects and other services that have some religious or spiritual meaning. Films and TV shows increasingly provide a vocabulary through which people express their religious beliefs and identities. At the same time, religious images become the subject of ironic spoofs from plastic toys and t-shirts to TV comedy shows (and this itself can become a heated focus for religious protest). Religious groups are themselves more engaged in various forms of media. Religious websites and cable TV shows offer entertainment and discussion of current affairs from the perspective of particular religious ideologies. Mainstream, commercial media has also been appropriated in innovative ways by religious groups - from the use of clips from the film 'The Matrix' in Christian worship services to the use of rap music as a means of communicating Islamic beliefs and concerns. The expanding role of various media is also affecting the kinds of religious communities and rituals that people engage in. The internet has made possible a new generation of global religious networks with which some believers have a much stronger sense of identification than their own local social or religious communities. The ability of such new media to enable people with similar religious ideologies to organise and act together is also putting new strain on traditional religious institutions, as religious conservatives and progressives across different traditions face each other down over a range of social, theological and cultural issues.

Understanding these emerging forms of religion in relation to the changing landscape of everyday life is an urgent task. Many established theoretical understandings of religion pre-date these contemporary cultural changes, and it is important to think again about how religion and the sacred function in contemporary societies. Learning about how religion is adapting to the cultural conditions of late modernity is of interest not only to academic researchers, but to media professionals, policy-makers and the wider public as they try to make sense of the resurgence of religion in contemporary public life. Faith communities also have an important stake in this area of study as it can be an invaluable resource for helping them to reflect on their relationship with their contemporary cultural context.

This proposed research network will bring together experts in religion and contemporary culture from across Britain and the United States, and as such reflects the priorities of the AHRC's current international strategy. It will provide a unique opportunity for people who have undertaken leading research in this field to discuss their ideas in a small group, and to develop new questions and insights into how we can understand religion in the changing landscape of everyday life. The aim of this network is to layer together some of the key debates in this field to generate more complex theoretical analysis of contemporary forms of religion. It will also take time to examine important ethical questions about how we approach issues of religion and the sacred in relation to media and popular culture, in ways that can help to promote healthy, diverse and respectful societies.