ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on adaptations of religious groups and institutions to contemporary social realities: in particular, how digital technology and social media have both shaped religious beliefs, practices, and experiences, and how in turn religion has tried to shape and harness these things for its own purposes. Examples highlight the way the global COVID pandemic has accelerated the move to digital formats and reflects on the positive and negative outcomes of these moves. We also provide an overview of megachurches and alternative forms of religious and spiritual groups and practices that have become popular in recent years. In addition to exploring how religion adapts to the modern world, the other main sociological question we address is how community and identity get built within religious organizations when they are online or have thousands of members attending each week. Similarly, we ask whether Christian bookstores, New Age shops, organic food stores, and wellness centers are only places of business or if they represent new forms and contexts for religious identities and communities to develop.
