Local Professor Examines Role Of Social Media In Religion
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A local professor is examining the place of prayer in the age of social media.
William Fitzgerald, an assistant professor of english at Rutgers University-Camden, says prayer has always been a kind of virtual communication, in speaking to yourself, or a divine being or as a way to connect to other human beings.
Fitzgerald says sending an email or maintaining a Facebook page is very similar to prayer.
"And what's interesting about prayer in cyberspace is that it creates a kind of new medium of delivery," he said. "It's almost like the wires and the wireless technology that connects us takes on a kind of spiritual significance for a lot of people."
Fitzgerald says prayer has evolved over thousands of years and continues to migrate over different modes like text, the body and now, cyberspace.
Reported by Karin Phillips, KYW Newsradio
