Alycea Ruhlen

Angela Pedrotti

ENG 1201 Online

27 June 2019

Annotated Bibliography

Altieri, Daniel. “The Influence of Religion on Human Technologies.” Swarthmore College

Environmental Studies, Swarthmore College Environmental Studies, 6 Oct. 2016,

http://fubini.swarthmore.edu/~ENVS2/dan/Essay2.html.

http://fubini.swarthmore.edu/~ENVS2/dan/Essay2.html

Daniel Altieri wrote “The Influence of Religion on Human Technologies” in 2016 for the

Swarthmore College Environmental Studies webpage managed by Professor E. Carr Everbach.

Altieri focused his article around how humans’ technologies play a major role in the

development of religion. Religion has been a force for humans to find new means of information

about different teachings and practices. John Gutenberg creating the printing press to hand out

copies of his Gutenberg Bible is an example. In this way, religion helped along technological

advancements and changed the way individuals think. Religion has inspired people to create

some of the most helpful technologies.

This article written for an assignment and published on a university page, is targeting

individuals who attend a university and are interested in how religion was and is growing. Being

three years old, but containing facts and examples rather than opinions, this article is still viable

to today.
 Daniel Altieri was a college student writing this article for a class assignment, making it

less reliable than many other published articles. The article contains citations and was written

based off facts.

This source will be useful in my research paper to emphasize the importance technology

has on religion and the importance religion has on technology. It can also provide a clearer

understanding of my argument of technology negatively affecting religion. I can also provide a

segment of how religion affects technology and what has evolved from that.

Downey, Allen. Religious Affliction, Education, and Technology Use. 2014.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1403.5534.pdf

In 2014, Allen Downey wrote a paper called “Religious Affliction, Education, and

Technology Use” to prove technology was associated with deceases religious affliction. He starts

off with alarming statistics of less and less people being afflicted with religion, along with the

rise of technology. Downey incorporates a multitude of different studies done that focused on

different age groups, religions, education levels, and political attitude; but all came out with the

same conclusion: internet use is associated with the decrease in religion. He then grouped

together these studies to discover the top three factors associated with religious afflictions:

religious upbringing, education, and internet use.

Allen Downey wrote this paper to provide the public with information of how religious

afflictions are occurring. This article is published on many websites and used in many other

papers. He provides adequate detail, observation, and statistics on the data to provide the readers

with detailed work as to not confuse them.

 Allen Downey has his MA in civil engineering and his PhD in computer science. He has

been hired into many universities and was a vesting scientist at Google. He has many

publications and his work is referenced in many other works. This article also contains citations

and includes detailed information.

This article will be helpful in my research to support a counterargument of technology

negatively affecting religion. I will also be able to use the statistics provide to support my claim.

Kgatle, Mookgo. “Social Media and Religion: Missiological Perspective on the Link Between

Facebook and the Emergence of Prophetic Churches in Southern Africa.” Verbum et

Ecclesia, vol. 39, no. 1, July. 2018,

http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2074-77052018000100014.

http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2074-77052018000100014.

In Mookgo Kgatle’s article “Social Media and Religion: Missiological Perspective on the

Link Between Facebook and the Emergence of Prophetic Churches in Southern Africa” was

published on an online library in South Africa in 2018. The article was centered around the idea

that media is a way to spread the Gospel to people in a faster and more widespread way. The

community is being most represented when it comes to technology and religion; online social

networks have been targeting communities rather than individuals. The individual, on the other

hand, is a crucial factor to recruit other individuals into the church and encourage the church

ideas. Kgatle digs in with a missiological perspective and a correlation between Facebook and

the new southern Africa churches. A missiological perspective seeks to look at the world with

commitment to the Christian faith. Facebook provides easy access to the churches and their

services, serves as an open arena to show off talents and advertisements of the church, and
provides a space of communication. Facebook also has downsides: imposters, people with

multiple accounts, false information being presented, duplicity of individuals, and negative

publicity. These factors play a negative role for the church to do its mission: spread the Gospel of

Jesus Christ.

Kgatle was explaining to the African population how Facebook, and technology in

general, has any relation with the aspect of religion; more specifically how the African churches

are benefitting and not benefitting from technology. Because it was published on an African

library, people who often read it will most likely be Africans interested in learning more about

religion.

Mookgo Kgatle is a faculty member at a school in Africa teaching about the Christian

faith. He also serves in leadership in his church. He has written many papers, books, and thesis

papers about the religion in Africa. This article contains citations from other scholarly writers

and is an article based off facts rather than opinion. Although, Kgatle may be a little biased since

he is living in Africa, I think, though, he is just informing the people of Africa about their

culture.

This article will help me tremendously in expressing my point in the paper. Although it is

about African culture, the Facebook topic is relatable to American culture. It could also be useful

in providing information about how churches receive less and negative publicity online, which

will go along with my argument.

McClure, Paul. “Tinkering with Technology and Religion in the Digital Age: The Effects of

Internet Use on Religious Belief, Behavior, and Belonging.” The Journal for the

Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 56, no. 3, 2017, 17p.

https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=525de629-5646-4228-8532-

25f9c1d44bf0%40sdc-v-

sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=edsgcl.533969545&db=edsgao

Paul McClure presents a study in 2017, “Tinkering with Technology and Religion in the

Digital Age: The Effects of Internet Use on Religious Belief, Behavior, and Belonging,” to prove

his hypothesis that internet use decreases individuals being affiliated with a religion and religious

exclusivism (the belief only one religion is true). Tinkering is the addition or subtraction of

something new and possibly unconventional to an already existing product. McClure argues that

technology is tinkering with individual’s religious beliefs in ways not many have noticed. This

could be based on the reasoning that individuals who spend large amounts of time on the internet

tend to learn new ways of thinking and relating to other individuals. The article provides an

opposing view of McClure’s claim; information on religious organizations using technology to

expand their platform and grow in numbers. This view also claims individuals using the internet

to promote their religious beliefs. The problem with this is that religious identity has become

‘fluid and temporary’ rather than the previous ‘fixed and stable’. The article provides more

support, claiming individuals who use social media often change their self-identity to appear

more genuine. The number of individuals who are ‘spiritual, but not religious’ have been

skyrocketing because they are putting first their freedom to choose among a variety of religions,

which backs up McClure’s previous statement that technology decreases religious exclusivism.

McClure wrote this article for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion to inform

readers of the affect’s technology has on religious belief, behavior, and belonging. The opposing

arguments addressed in the article are there to help readers understand both sides of the specific

aspect of religion.
 Paul McClure has his PhD and MA in sociology, his MA in Theological Studies and his

BA in philosophy. His article includes citations from previous works about this topic of study.

The article was also published in 2017, making the information still viable.

This article can help my research paper in many ways. It can be used as a

counterargument and a helpful source for my argument on the topic. I will also be using this

article to cite statistics in my paper.

Moody, Josh, “Social Media and the Church.” Christianity Today, 14 Feb. 2019,

https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2019/february/social-media-and-church-

technology-josh-moody.html.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2019/february/social-media-and-church-technology-

josh-moody.html.

Josh Moody wrote an article in 2019 called “Social Media and the Church” to elaborate

on social media and what measures the church should be taking. Moody suggests we should

embrace technology and use it to spread the Gospel. Using technology as a revolution to boast

about Jesus could become a revolution for others. Another suggestion Moody brought on, is

being humble towards ourselves. There are dangers that come along with this, such as exposure

of our self to create something we are not and to dominate the technological age. We should

promote Jesus without promoting ourselves before Him.

Moody presents this article to encourage readers to proclaim Jesus on social media and

use it to their advantage instead of disadvantage. The article is posted on Christian Today, so the

readers are Christians inspiring to learn more. Moody is hoping to get his readers to spread the

Gospel throughout social media instead of letting social media be a disadvantage to them.
 Josh Moody holds a PhD and is a Pastor. The website the article is uploaded onto is a

Christian website and might be a little biased with this article. The article holds facts and quotes

from other PhD holders and includes quotations from them.

This article will be beneficial in my research paper when explaining my stance on how

social media affects religion and how its benefits people.

Pew Research Center. “Global Uptick in Government Restrictions on Religion in 2016.” Pew

Research Center, 21 June 2018, https://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/21/global-uptick-in-

government-restrictions-on-religion-in-2016/.

https://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/21/global-uptick-in-government-restrictions-on-

religion-in-2016/

In 2018, Pew Research Center conducted their annual study of religion restrictions

around the world. This level has increased for the second year in a row. Religion restrictions

often were the result of government officials, social groups, or an individual expressing their

religious stance. These people have been reported trying to take down a certain religious group to

defend another group they felt were being threatened. Government actors would often use

rhetoric groups, such as anti-immigrant or anti-minority, to go after religious groups in a

designated country; specifically, Christian and Muslim groups.

This report is repeated annually; it is aimed at informing readers of Pew Research Center

the updates on religion restrictions. Pew Research Center is a religious website, so the

individuals reading the article are religious. The report supplies readers with knowledge of what

is going on around the globe involving government and religion.

 There is not a specific author stated, the Pew Research Center team is applied; they all

worked on it. I think it is still reliable though, because of the citations included, and there is no

bias on anything written. The website is meant to inform people about religion and that is what

this article provided to the public.

This article will be beneficial in my writing to inform my readers on the statistics of the

decreasing individuals not being able to proclaim their religion, which in turn could lead to less

religion in that area.

Pew Research Center. “Religion and Electronic Media.” Pew Research Center, 6 Nov. 2014,

https://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/06/religion-and-electronic-media/.

https://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/06/religion-and-electronic-media/

The Pew Research Center composed an article titled “Religion and Electronic Media” in

2014 to provide readers with an overview of people who have been actively showing their

religion online. With these findings, religious engagements over technology, such as radio,

television, or music, have complemented religious participation. Young adults were found to

share their faith more than an individual fifty or older. The number of people sharing their faith

online and offline have been increasing over the last decade.

Pew Research Center wrote this article to inform the public of the tremendous data they

have been finding with people proclaiming their faith in Jesus. Pew Research Center is a

religious domain and they are doing here what they are known to do; write about religion.

There is no specific team member stated, leaving the reader to imply multiple people

worked on it from Pew Research Center. I still conclude that the article is reliable, though,

because it has citations and they are writing with no bias, only facts.
 This will be beneficial in my paper for supporting my claim. I can also use this source to

show statistics in how social media is impacting people’s faiths.