Internet Religion And National Religious Affairs Management

With the influence of economic globalization and the information technology revolution,religion has broken the temporal and spatial limitations to increasingly develop and affect different communities in a wider range.Digital media contents related to religious beliefs have emerged on various influential online platforms,such as on certain mainstream websites that talk about religious issues,QQ/WeChat group,WeChat public account,the mobile client(APP),etc.Some of these contents are shared by everyone,but the others are more targeted and shared within certain groups.The current information and the public opinion about religion have been given a boost on the Internet,resulting from the shareability,immediacy,openness,and anonymity of the cyberspace,affecting a wide range of people.On the one hand,the Internet is acting as an accelerator for generating and spreading religious contents,which is conducive for religious believers and those who are interested in religion to obtain various religious information;on the other hand,the Internet can be used as an incubator for generating inappropriate remarks involving religious issues,or an infiltration of religious extremist thoughts,etc.,which are not conducive to the management of religious affairs of China.Based on the ambivalent and complicated features of the Internet,the government of China has applied corresponding policies and measures to minimize the negative impacts of the Internet and to manage the religious contents in cyberspace.Based on the current situation,this paper analyzes the influences of online religion on the management of religious affairs in China,as well as the relationship between religion and the network.It clarifies the underlying causes and problems of online religion,and interprets the corresponding challenges for managing religious affairs on the Internet,and furtherly explores the future path of online religion and religious affairs management.Guided by the Marxist religious theory,combining the specific policies and measures of the Communist party and the Chinese government in the management of religious affairs,this paper analyzes the online religion and the management of religious affairs of China from four aspects.The first chapter defines the core concepts.Firstly,it expounds the basic meaning of religion and online religion.Secondly,it elaborates on the main contents of religious and religious affairs management.The second chapter discusses the characteristics of network religion and the positive significance of the development of network religion to the management of national religious affairs.The section of positive significance focuses on the positive interaction between the Internet and religion.The third chapter analyzes the challenges brought about by the management of religious affairs in China and the underlying causes of the existing problems and pitfalls in managing the religious affairs of China.By exploring the ideology reasons and objective reasons separately,the paper examines the current status of religious affairs management in China.Besides,by investigating the online information,activities,clergies and the representatives from different religions,this paper explores the challenges brought by the development of online religion to the religious affairs management.The fourth chapter focus on the specific policies and measures adopted by the Chinese government in recent years.Specifically,it discusses the possible approaches to manage and supervise online religion by enhancing legislation and regulation of cyberspace,promoting national religious policies,spreading positive religious propaganda,and actively adapting online religions to socialism.Finally,this paper discusses the promising future of online religion,and suggests some proper approaches to promote positive religious information,disseminate positive energy of the network,and improve the management of online religious affairs.