Mediated Communal Rituals and the Sustainability of Religious Communities in Contemporary Britain

Ossai, Emmanuel Chiwetalu (2026) Mediated Communal Rituals and the Sustainability of Religious Communities in Contemporary Britain. Journal of Religion in Europe. pp. 1-34. ISSN 1874-8910

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Abstract

Studies of religious responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have paid less attention to negotiations within religious communities over the site of communal rituals in the postpandemic period, when public gatherings were no longer restricted and the level of mediatization in society had increased. This research demonstrates that the decisions of British Buddhist communities regarding the post-COVID-19 adoption of internet-enabled digital sites for communal mindfulness meditation were, in part, shaped by religious considerations. However, in some cases, they were determined more significantly by pragmatic thinking, for example, regarding resources, practitioners’ demands, and the cost of not adapting to the social transformations brought about by new media. With new qualitative data gathered in 2023–2024 from eleven New Kadampa, Theravada, Triratna, and Vajrayana communities in England and Scotland, this study demonstrates the digital strategies that British minority religious communities employ for sustainability amid religious decline and deep mediatization in British society.