A virtualização de práticas religiosas pentecostais na era digital

Abstract

This study examines how contemporary Pentecostalism has produced new forms of religious sociability through the virtualization of its practices, incorporating digital technologies from other fields of social activity. A form of virtualized Pentecostalism has emerged as a significant phenomenon within the Pentecostal Christian religious landscape at the turn of the millennium, characterized by the adaptation of traditional Pentecostal practices to digital and virtualized environments. The emergence of this phenomenon is understood as the outcome of a long historical process involving successive abstractions and resignifications of the meanings of temple, presence, and access to the sacred. The empirical research was conducted across physical and virtual fields. The physical field comprised in-person visits to places of worship to observe religious rituals and interact with believers, including semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and questionnaires administered via Google Forms. The digital field involved the observation of Instagram profiles, participation in a WhatsApp group, and visits to a virtual church using an avatar to attend worship services. According to the evangelical participants, online worship services transmitted via live streaming and participation in WhatsApp support groups were among the primary strategies for coping with social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and for maintaining religious practices. Beyond the intensive use of digital social networks, some churches implemented more structured processes of virtualization, exemplified by the creation of the virtual church Lagoverso as a virtual replica of a physical church. The study argues that virtualization exceeds the mere digitalization of social relations, as digitally mediated processes aim not only to connect individuals and generate new forms of interaction, but above all to produce immersive and quasi-autonomous virtual environments governed by their own rules of sociability and distinctive modes of religious practice.