Because Faith is a Personal Matter! Aspects of Public and Private in Religious Internet Use

This paper addresses the concepts of public and private with regard to the use of Christian online boards. Drawing from an empirical study on religious Internet use, including qualitative and quantitative data, this article asks to what extent these boards can be characterised as new public spaces for exchange about religion, or as enhancing private engagement with religion. While media characteristics of online discussion boards encourage their understanding as public spaces, at the same time actual usage patterns mirror an increasing privatisation of religion. Instead of opting for either a public or private characterisation of online boards, this article proposes to disentangle both attributions and relate these findings to the larger debate on contemporary religion in terms of public and private.