According to Erlangen journalism professor Johanna Haberer, the church must “catch up in the digital world so that it does not lose its visibility”.
At the same time, the holder of the chair for Christian journalism at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) contradicted the thesis in an interview with the Evangelisches Pressedienst (epd) that the church is socially on the decline. She has been hearing this since she studied theology, Haberer said: “According to this, the church should have been dead for a long time.”
“With its digital proclamation of faith, the online community “da_between” accompanies people in their everyday lives. The digital community wants to offer a testing ground for contemporary communication of faith via messenger service. The online community impressively demonstrates how traditional concepts and rituals can be transferred to the digital space.” , is the text for the nomination in the “Social Action” category of the Smart Hero Awards.
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Media literacy required
However, the Corona period in particular has shown once again that the “media perception of the church” is “requested and desired” by many people. “I believe that there is a great longing for religious patterns of interpretation in our society,” said Haberer. The withdrawal of the church could possibly be “experienced in the numbers of church visitors and members”, but not in people’s interest “in spiritual support in the media”. For decades, around a million people have listened to the protestant morning celebrations on Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR).
Haberer said the study of theology will have to change – not everyone will have to learn Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Rather, the students would have to learn at the university “to present themselves as spiritual persons in the digital space and as representatives of the church to become flexible in the media”. In the digital world, “all citizens” should have knowledge of journalism and media ethics, said the journalism expert, who is about to retire: “We don’t prepare the future theologians and pastors enough for that.”
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