Informatization and Religion

在这项研究中，一方面考察了社会信息化与宗教转型的关系。为了研究上述关系，我们选择了日本宗教的以下几个方面。(1)20世纪70年代和80年代所谓的“新宗教”在群体组织和信息控制方面的特点；(2)人类潜能运动和新时代运动中的人际关系特征；(3)近年来对非常规类型葬礼和墓葬感兴趣的人的意识和关系；(4)20世纪70年代以来为安抚流产胎儿精神而进行的仪式行为迅速普及的原因；(5)每年仪式和节日的模式及其参与者的意识特征的变化；(6)新旧宗教团体利用新媒体技术的方式多种多样；(7)占卜媒体的长期变化。每个研究人员都对这些受试者进行了实证调查，并通过一系列讨论比较了结果，在讨论中得出了一些一般性的观察结果。我们还试图收集一些关于西方国家，特别是美国的数据，以便对信息化和宗教进行一些比较研究。通过这些研究，我们可以了解信息社会中人与人之间交往方式的变化，以及宗教信息传播的方式。我们还从宗教的角度发现了日本社会信息化的一些文化方面的特点。

In this research the relationship between the informatization of the society on one hand and the transformation of religion on the other was examined. We have selected following aspects of Japanese religion in order to investigate the above relationship. (1) So called 'Neo-New Religions' of the 1970s and 80s with respect to their group organization and information control ; (2) Features of the interpersonal relationship found in Human Potential Movements and New Age movement ; (3) Consciousness and relationships of those who are interested in unconventional type of funerals and graves in recent years ; (4) The reason of the rapid popularization of the ritual behaviors conducted to calm the spirits of the aborted fetuses since 1970s ; (5) Changing pattern of the yearly rituals and festivals and features of consciousness of those who participate in them ; (6) Various way of utilizing the new media technology in religious groups old and new ; (7) Long range change of media utilized for divination. These subjects were investigated empirically by each researcher and findings were compared through a series of discussions in which some general observations were derived. We have also attempted to gather some data on Western countries especially on the United States in order to carry out some comparative study on informatization and religion. Through these researches we could understand the changing way in which people interact with each other and also the way in which religious information is communicated in the informatized society. We have also found some characteristics of cultural aspects of informatization in Japanese society through religious perspective.