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Religions Consuming Surveillance – Workshop Two

As part of this second workshop Dr Eric Stoddart, University of St Andrews, Scotland, gave a public lecture in Edinburgh on 20 March 2017.

Will using surveillance make good religion better and bad religion worse?

Stoddart’s lecture is available in audio here:

The Call for Papers for Workshop Three (in London 20-22 November 2017) is available here.  Details about the public lecture associated with this forthcoming workshop will be available shortly.

Questions for Further Discussion

You might find the following questions helpful as a way of thinking further – on your own or with a group.

To what extent does having CCTV on your place of worship lead you to feel more secure and/or more anxious?

What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of processing personal information about the members of a faith community?

What is different, if anything, between using an app and meeting friends face-to-face as way of developing your spiritual habits?

How, if at all, might it make sense to talk of people connecting with each other through digital devices on a scale of ‘humanness’?

The spectrums of good/bad religion that are proposed in the lecture are contentious because they might simply reflect one perspective on religious behaviour. How, if at all, can we discuss the ethical qualities of our own and others’ religious practices?