The use of websites created by religious communities has
created changes, and thus created issues offline along with those changes in
the practices of religious authority. Among many of the changes is the question
of who has a hierarchy role within a religious communities on and offline. There are now new perceptions
of who is a religious authority figure. According to Cheong author of, Authority, “the internet challenges
authority by expanding access of religious information that can undermine the
plausibility structure of a religious system”. Search engine websites on the
internet now make it easier for one to find information regarding a variety of
traditions, such as sacred scriptures, that in the past may have not been
provided for the public, but only to certified religious authority figures.
With the availability of religious information on websites it is assumed that
it has diminished the power of those who are a certified or an ordained
religious authority figure, and gives authority to those who are not certified
or a self proclaimed religious figure. This creates a crisis in traditional
theology of who has religious authority as new forms of web-based authorities
emerge. With traditional authority threatened, there are assumptions that
search engine websites create a way for uncertified people to become a
religious authority figure with their knowledge of religion gained from the Internet.
Which diminishes the knowledge of those who are a certified religious authority
figure.
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