Why This Work Works for Me (For Now)

Taking Kyung to the airport yesterday, I said a lot of things that I figured I should write down. He tends to ask me questions that really get me to the core of my philosophies, and I don’t think I’ve ever written about my job’s relation to my personal interests, though many have asked.

For nearly two years I’ve worked as assistant communication director and web manager at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Yes, I am an Adventist, and this makes it a no brainer as far as my faith (and the faith of 16 million others in over 200 countries) go. Still, there’s more to it than that.

After returning to the US in 2006, I realized my vocation: studying the relation between culture and technology. I believe we are in a momentous era where humanity is no longer required to adapt to technological conventions—for the first time in history cultural conventions can dictate technological interactions without compromise. As a result, understanding people’s values, beliefs, fears and concerns has never been more important.

Working in my position gives me access to a very large and very diverse community bound together by very specific beliefs. How can technology serve them? How can technology bolster (or even expand) their spirituality?

To answer that question, I first must define two terms: spirituality and religion. I take most of my academic understanding of these two terms from David Fontana’s “Psychology, Religion and Spirituality,” which uses the following descriptions:

• spirituality: belief in another reality that can, through interaction or awareness, improve our existence in this reality.
• religion: a system of beliefs, practices and rituals directed towards the interaction or awareness.

While we’re at it, we should go ahead and define faith, which is an unusually firm form of belief based on various teachings and observations which seem conclusive to the individual. As a result, a person’s convictions generate both faith in a type of spirituality as well as the construct of interaction—the “religion,” as it were.

This is important for a couple reasons. First, it allows for the whole lame argument, “I’m spiritual, but not religious” to persist as valid. Unfortunately, it does not make the person claiming this any less lame; If you believe that there is a reason to experience a greater reality but have not attempted development of a system for interaction, you are pitiful in every sense of the word precisely because of the second reason—all who attempt a link with the unknown require religion (as described by the definition above).

The sticking point is not that religion is unnecessary, but whether corporate religion is necessary. Quoting Fontana,

Religion has been on of the major formative influences upon human thought and behavior throughout the centuries. It has had a profound effect upon the lives of individuals, and upon groups and cultures. […] However, religion has also had a negative side, serving during various periods of history as an ultra-conservative and repressive influence upon scientific development and upon the freedom of thought and speech. It has led to social and cultural divisions, and been the excuse for some of the most barbaric wars in history.

If you happen to be the type of person who likes books like Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody” or Brafman and Beckstrom’s “The Starfish and the Spider” you’ll immediately see the potential for technology to help “unstick” this issue. Since the advent of the printing press—and increasingly ever since—people have had less incentive to rely on corporate organization to provide the conviction that creates faith.

Could this mean the death of corporate religion? A resounding yes; one which I wonder if leaders of world religions have actually discerned. Does this mean the end of organized religion? It does not have to. I believe if there is value to participating in something, participation will persist as long as value is retained. There may no longer be an interest in a large entity to tell you what to believe, but there will always be a desire to find and be a part of a community of like-minded individuals.

To that end, I find it a very exciting and humbling honor to be in my position; with thoughtfulness, perceptiveness and partnership my colleagues and I can guarantee the future of Adventism—and its natural transition into a new era of organized religion.

I intend to write more about that as we go along. For now, consider:

• What would have a greater impact: a million unique visitors per month on a well-designed site about Adventists, or a million Adventists with well-designed methods for showing who they are in the online and offline social networks of which they are currently a part?
• Should an organization work to make their online presence user friendly or their users online-friendly?
• What exists in the definition of the Web today that is not the antitype of the historical definition of the church?

I hope you find these questions as intriguing as I do.