Religião nas redes sociais: fé, autoridade e experiência religiosa no ambiente digital

Abstract

The expansion of digital technologies and the consolidation of social networks have profoundly changed contemporary forms of communication, interaction, belonging and meaning-making. In this context, religion has also increasingly occupied digital environments, causing practices traditionally associated with temples, face-to-face communities and institutional authorities to be reformulated on online platforms. This article aims to analyze how social networks have contributed to the transformation of religious experience, particularly considering the relationships between faith, authority and religious practices in digital environments. The research is characterized as qualitative and bibliographic, based on Brazilian academic studies published between 2020 and 2026. The study discusses the digitalization of religious practices, the emergence of digital faith influencers, transformations in religious authority and new forms of experience, belonging and participation provided by social networks. It is observed that the digital environment is not merely a new channel for disseminating religious content, but a space in which beliefs, identities, discourses, rituals and relations of authority are constantly reconstructed. Social networks expand access to religious information, facilitate the formation of communities beyond territorial boundaries and enable new forms of expression of faith. At the same time, they create challenges related to content simplification, engagement logic, commercialization of religious experience, misinformation and disputes over legitimacy and authority. It is concluded that digital religion should be understood as part of a broader process of cultural transformation, in which religion increasingly interacts with the communicational and sociotechnical logics of digital platforms.