Media has often given viewers/users the illusion of having a deep connection to the source.
By Jon Niccum
Public Affairs Officer
The University of Kansas
Social media has radically changed the way we do things, from communicating to purchasing to learning to voting. But according to a new article, it’s also transformed the way we define religion—particularly among women.
“Religious studies scholars are interested in how fluid religion is and how it’s really bound up with social processes and power struggles,” said Jacquelene Brinton, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas. “Whereas outside of religious studies, people think of religion as something static and easily defined. Social media is showing us how that process of transformation happens.”
Her new article, “Media and the Formation of Secular/Religious Networks,” examines the rise of so-called “Instavangelists.” These are women (primarily) who have replaced traditional faiths with their own gospel through Instagram and other online platforms. They preach to other women about “how to be their best selves,” even though both the media and the message further blur the lines between religion and the secular. It appears in the Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture.
Brinton first came across the term Instavangelist while reading Leigh Stein’s 2021 New York Times article titled “The Empty Religions of Instagram: How did influencers become our moral authorities?” It notes how media personalities such as Gabrielle Bernstein (1.3 million followers on Instagram), Glennon Doyle (2.1 million followers), Brené Brown (5 million followers) and Gwyneth Paltrow (8.3 million followers) have become the “neo-religious leaders of our era.”
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