Locked down prayers: exploring online religious practices during the pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the sudden virtualization of religious practices was an unusual and innovative phenomenon, even for religious institutions. Religious communities around the world have had to adapt their presence to the virtual dimension of the internet, formulating and redesigning new forms and spaces to communicate and perform religious practices. However, the pandemic has undoubtedly also proven to be an opportunity to introduce and rethink the use of new media and to rethink a new way of “doing church”. By systematizing some of the research that have analyzed the online adaptation of religious practices during the two-year health emergency, this study will explore how religious groups renegotiated and adapted their rituals to the immateriality of the Internet.