In this thesis, we will analyse the characteristics of the Christian religion online during the COVID-19 pandemic, using existing studies. We will be interested in how the Christian religion, based on ritual in a physical environment and the idea of community, responded (due to the measures taken to contain the virus) to the obligatory relocation of its activities and its community from the physical to the digital sphere. We will highlight some of the innovations that certain Protestant (Baptist, Episcopalian and Anglican) and Catholic communities in Australia, Canada and the United States of America have introduced to continue their work in the face of the pandemic. We will also analyse the challenges and positive aspects of the digital form of these churches in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic with the help of existing statistical studies (e.g. Pew Research Center, 2020 and Billy Graham Center, 2020) and the personal accounts of the members of these congregations (believers and pastors).
In analysing the characteristics of the Christian religion in the COVID-19 era, we draw on existing research or the subjective accounts of the authors, who are either pastors or priests of Catholic, Baptist, Episcopal and Anglican churches in Australia, Canada and the United States, or their congregants, in order to understand the characteristics of their digital engagement during the pandemic.
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