Digital Religion in Contemporary Society: A Qualitative Systematic Review of Online Worship, Community, and Religious Identity in Thailand

Abstract

This review synthesized qualitative scholarship on digital religion to explain how virtual worship, online community, and religious identity are produced, stabilized, and contested in contemporary Thai digital spaces. A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis were conducted across recent literature on digital religion, mediatized worship, online fellowship, and identity formation, with special attention to Thailand and comparable Southeast Asian settings. The analysis organized the literature into recurring themes and compared them across traditions, platforms, and community types. Results: Three patterns dominated the corpus. First, online worship functions as an extension of religious practice, not merely a substitute for physical gathering. Second, digital communities create forms of intimacy, authority, and participation that differ from face-to-face congregations because platform design shapes visibility, interaction, and ritual pacing. Third, religious identity in digital settings becomes more performative, curated, and negotiated, especially among younger users who move fluidly between devotion, entertainment, and social networking. Digital religion in Thailand is best understood as an adaptive sociological formation in which worship, community, and identity are reconfigured by media logic. The literature suggests that religious institutions should treat digital practice as a durable domain of pastoral care, not as an auxiliary channel.