Paper short abstract:

Reflecting upon engagement with the Pandemic Religion Archive and ongoing ethnographic research into digital prayer collectives in Pakistan, this paper explores experimental and improvised approaches to theological doctrines of spiritual presence, temporal proximity, and moral reception.

Paper long abstract:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuation of forms of communal worship relied on experimental and improvised approaches to theological doctrines of spiritual presence, temporal proximity, and moral reception. While creativity and play served to bring out fresh ways of being together in prayer, these attempts at eliciting co-presence built upon pre-existing religious mediations rather than simply being fashioned anew from media assemblages.

This paper reflects upon engagement with the George Mason University's Pandemic Religion project and its attempts to document the various ways that religious communities in North America have been challenged and transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Built from user-contributions, the resultant Pandemic Religion Archive is a repository of reflections over how worshippers from varied faiths and denominations sought other ways of remaining connected when traditional forms of communal prayer were interrupted. These activities will be framed in relation to ongoing ethnographic research into digital prayer collectives in Pakistan who seize upon already existing platforms and repositories to host participative content on Facebook Live, communicate through messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, and broadcast live and archived prayer gatherings on YouTube.

Through this comparative frame, this paper asks, how is divine presence made tangible and immediate by digital technologies? How is the experience of co-presence - as communal worship or of fellow congregants - mediated in the experience of online prayer and devotion? How have the atmospheric or ambient dimensions of prayer been transformed by the use of digital technologies during the pandemic?