Research Progress Report

Virtual Spirituality and the Construction of

Islamic Authority among Indonesian
Muslim Youth in the Disruption Era
[The Case of Japan and Indonesia]
Abd Haris, Mokhammad Yahya
CONTENTS

01 Research Objectives

02 Theoretical Foundations

03 Data Collection Progress

and Findings
04 Anaylisis and Discussion
1 Research
Objectives
Virtual Spirituality and the Construction of Islamic Authority among
Indonesian Muslim Youth in the Disruption Era: The Case of Japan
and Indonesia

To explore how Indonesian Muslim

youth perceive virtual spirituality in
an online environment.
To explore how the internet change the
process of decision making and construction
of Islamic knowledge among Indonesian
Muslim youth and how they select the most
fitting to their own views in the absence of
institutionalized Islamic authorities.
To explain how they define and construct
the concept of authority online? How do
their religious activities (online) challenge
and/or support traditional forms of religious
authority and how they framed the sources
of authority they mentioned?
02
Theoritical Foundations
• Approaching Authority
• Authority and Religion
• Religious Authority
• Religion and Media
• Approaching Authority
 Weber’s Three Types of Authority
LEGAL RATIONAL
Source: Legitimized by long-standing custom
Style: Historic personality
EX: Patriarchy(traditional positions of authoity)
CHARISMATIC
Based on a leader's personal qualities
Dynamic personality
Napoleon, Jesus,Luther King
TRADITIONAL
Authority resides in the office, not the
person
Bureaucratic officials
US Presidency, Modern British Parliament
Note
This Weber’s differentiation is very
important because it focuses on the
need of differencing various type of
authority. Most importantly, the general
concept of authority is differing from
religious authority, because religious
authority refers to certain form of
legitimacy, which is generally associated
with devine sources. However, even
though the characteristic is unique, the
religious authority still refers to belief,
system, and role that are personified as
authority manifestation.
 Theory of authoritativeness

Compre Self-
Reasona restraint
hensive bleness
Diligent ness
Honesty

Five conditions necessary to speak in the name of God→ Basis Authority [authoritative turns into authoritarian]
Khaleed Abou el-Fadl
Authority • Moors and Meyer (2006) state that the format, infrastructure,
and Religion and style of media form a certain mode that used by religion to
go to public, the mode that difficult to be controlled by
religious institution.
• Campbell (2007) studies the online religious authority and
documents how’s the challenge of authority dealing with some
different aspects (structures, hierarchy, text, and religious
ideology) according to particular religion. The existing religious
communication practice may not only destabilize by media,
because it is also can enable to create other practices, both
outside and inside religious movements or organizations. Later
on, researcher will explain the issue using authority concept. If
power means an ability to influence thoughts and actions,
authority can occur if the power of organization, object,
person, rule, and so on as an entity is claimed as legitimate
and effective.
Authority and Religion
• Rligious authority can be said as charismatic authority because of the many
religion’s characteristic is a set of devine abilities coming from god, or refers to
special individual such us prophet, or special object such us totem, or even
special text such us bible. As suggested by Weber, charismatic authority is
difficult to be maintained over time because it refers to an extraordinary ability
so that difficult in maintaining the belief on it. The result of this fact, religion
often use another form of legitimation. Historical transformation of Christian
communities into a state church is an effort of religion institutionalization as
practiced in Nordic countries. This effort of institutionalization has given a
Christianity a form of both traditional and legal-rational authority. Here,
Christianity also legitimated through ancient history, habituating behavior and
rituals from generation to another, and so far, and through its claim on scientific
and bureaucratic rationality. By the institutionalization, the Christian church has
involved in bureaucratic state such as registration of birth, death, as well as
taxation. Christian scholar intellectualization through university-based theology
has bring out the scientific experience of sacred text interpretation.
Authority and Religion
• Herbert (2011) states that the link between religious discourses and symbols and some religious
institution and communities have loosen. So that, what Herbert, Meyer and Moors statement is also
important. They stated: “religion can be seen as a specific community’s particular set of beliefs and
practices in one hand, and religious as a broader field of representations and practices disseminating
across culture and society with no particular organizational foundation or demarcated set of
followers in the other hand” (Herbert, 2011 & Meyer & Moors, 2006)
• Dawson (2000) who firstly highlighted religious authority of three areas, especially in ‘sects’ online,
which is challenged by online activity of religion. These include the potential of “proliferation of
misinformation and disinformation” (p. 43) by specific opponent of religious group; the “loss of
control over religious matters” by religious institutions; and providing “new opportunities for
grassroots forms of witnessing” (p. 44), so that emerging the emergence of both alternative and
unofficial voice against traditional discourses. The disadvantages of Dawson’s explanation is there is
no more explanation about the three areas of exploring multiple aspect of religion (e.g., structures,
roles, and text) in accordance with authority.
• Warburg and Piff (2005) : The study showed that strained situation can appear between members
and religious institutions while conversation through online platform, because the online
conversation creates a place and opportunity whereby the members can opposite the religious
teachings.
Authority and Religion
• Barker (2005) mainly focused on “how new religions find authority
structure being affected by the arrival of cyberspace” (p. 68). The forum of
online discussion may damage the structure or even the religious
organizations can penetrate to the group or maybe create some alternative
forums to maintain their proper structure. Baker’s study shows the way
religious authority play a role as hierarchical structure that can reply the
internet activities of its member.
• Herring (2005) highlights the role of religious organization as a main
concern in the discussion of religious authority. Similar with Herring,
Cowan (2005) conducted a study on online contemporary paganism that
discussed the role of internet in helping religious member constructing
online identities in order to help them claiming a pagan authority (p. 166-
167). In this study, the term authority is referring to communal recognition
not by official group establishment.
 Religious Authority
• Chados (2012) stated two
important meaning of
authority which are social and
01 inner authority. “Social
authority associated with a
certain social position like a
pope and judge while inner
authority associated with
what is seen or experienced
as authenticity” (p. 262).
• Campbell (2007) stated the
importance of authority multilayered
understanding in investigating
religious authority online. She
conclude four layers of authority,
02
those are religious hierarchy,
structures, ideology, and text.
Campbell explain: “religious hierarchy
defined as roles and perceptions
about religious leader, while Religious
structure is a system of community
practice organization. Furthermore,
Religious ideology is faith beliefs or
shared identity, while religious text is
recognized teachings from official
religious books”.
• Linda Woodhead (2011) concludes broader understanding by identifying
five aspects of religion those are, religion as identity, culture, practice,
power, and relationship. Based on this multi-perspective explanation
about religion, Woodhead claimed that power play an important role that
related to religion (p. 134).
• Chados (2012) state that religion has been always connected to authority
by explaining that it is dependent and reinforced by social and political
authority structure.
• Woodhead (2011) extends religion as religious resources, capital and
compensator, status and recognition, and economic and political power.
The explanation of Woodhead (2011) makes us believe that religion is
more complex and broader than the current issues or research that was
conducted by many scholars. So that, she argued that by its complexity,
religion should be studied through its cultural works and practices
performed by its followers.
Religious Authority
• Ganzevoort (2009) agrees with a complex explanation of religion and
states that “… the transcending patterns of action and meaning,
emerging from and contributing to the relation with the sacred”. So that,
the authority of religion should be understood in inter-relational names
between manifested realities and authorities acknowledgment (Cheong,
2013).
• In the above discussion, its clear that religious authority always related
to how and what considered as religion. Moreover, religious authority is
granted to some people like pastors, rituals, myths, sacred text, and
individual experiences in relation with sacred. This understanding of
religion in broader and complex understanding will be explored in the
last chapter of this research. On the other hand, interchanging meaning
of religious understanding is directly influencing on how and where the
authority lies.
 Religion and Media
Instrumentalist Approach:
technological media as a
neutral instrument that is
value-free and media is
perceived as a liberator for
religious institutions for
maximizing and extending
the religious
activities.(Campbell
2012;Horsfield 2004).
Cultural Approach:technological innovation and
media are value-laden and culturally embedded
institution similar to religion (Horsfield &Teusner
2007). Media as a web of culture upon which all
other cultural institutions and activities are
constructed and situated (Horsfield 2003). This
perspective does not view religious institutions
as the sole guardian of religious realities. It puts
religious institutions as any other cultural
institutions that are interrelated with each other
in constructing realities (Horsfield 2004).
According to this perspective the media should
be seen as a constitutive factor in religious
theology, though not just a functional one.
Theory of
mediatization
• Media is part of societal culture, which is why it can work in
various institutions in the midst of society (Hjarvard 2011:
121).
• The media as part of cultural institutions therefore are no
longer functioning only as a tool to provide services to other
institutions passively. Media has its own independence and
has the ability to force religious institutions to follow the
rules that it requires. Digital media has a logic of its own to
which social institutions have to comply. Among the logic of
media is what is called an agenda-setting function. Digital
media can filter and set the agenda by deciding on what to
report on and how to report on it (Soukup, Buckley &
Robinson 2001: 368).
 Through this ‘agenda-
setting function’, the Unfortunately, the
media has the ability to media can even give
define and frame the meaning as the
religious issues (Hjarvard media wants. This is
2011: 125-126). When where the media
the media uses religious even has the
symbols, this does not potential to weaken
automatically indicate religious power and
that they intend to authority (Lynch 2011:
propagate a specific 205).
religious view (Hjarvard
2011: 126). .
• Hjarvard (2016: 2) stated that through mediatization theory, it can be
seen that this relationship process does not run linearly. Even
interestingly, there is a paradox in it. Through the media, religious beliefs
and practices could be contested and reasserted by the media but this
does not mean that the media becomes more religious. The media as a
cultural institution has its own logic which is different from religious
institutions. Thus through this mediatization, religious belief and
practices may be transformed and re-contextualized in more secular
domains' (Hjarvard 2016: 4). It implies further that the ties between
religious symbols and discourses and religious communities and
institutions are loosened as they are recontextualized in a more secular
context (Hjarvard 2016: 5). In this context where religious symbols and
practices are disembedded from religious institutions and communities
authority seems to be relocated to individuals and collective practices
becomes also a token of authority (Hjarvard 2016: 7).
Criticisms to the Mediatizaton
Theory
a. Lovheim (2011): The media have a
limited understanding of religion and
the media only act as a single act of
communication (no real reciprocal
relationship).
b. Lynch (2011): More applicable to
highly modernized societies, it is very
contextual, historical and culturally
specific and therefore does not
provide an adequate framework to
think about religion and media and
social change in general.
The mediatization theory helps
researchers to understand media as a
culture form that exists alongside other
culture forms like religion and religious
institutions. Furthermore, it highlights
the ability of the media to use religion
and create religious experiences
through secular symbols and narratives.
It resists a linear understanding of the
effect of media, but is open to diversity
and ambiguity and could guide
researchers to an open-ended process
of research that could come to different
conclusions in different contexts
 Data Collection
03 Progress and
Findings
 Secondary Data
Primary Data [Indonesia]
Its Done!
1. Collectind Data through In-Depth
Interview and Direct Observation in
Magetan, Surabaya, and Jakarta
2. 2. WA Call, Google Meet, Zoom with
the youth and milleneals in Sumatra,
Jawa, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi
3. Currently in the process of
transcription and Coding
Primary Data [Japan]
Add title
1. WA Call, Google Meet, Zoom with the
Indonesian and Japanese youth and
milleneals
2. Zoom and Google Meet with Japan
Muslim Association
3. Currently in the process of transcription
and Coding
04 Analysis &
Discussion
 2 3
Analysis and 1
Discussion
We have just finished writing up
concept of authority
introduction, method, literature
review online religious
VIRTUAL process of activities challenge
The writing up of the chapter of decision making and/or support
SPIRITUALITY
traditional forms of
discussion and analysis will be and construction
done by the end of this religious authority
of Islamic
November framing the sources of
knowledge
authority
Drafting journal article roughfly Perception
by the first week of December How Internet Change
define and construct
THANK YOU