Religion and Internet Use among Young Adult Muslims in Israel and Turkey: Exploring Issues of Trust and Religious Authority

Abstract

This article is based on data gathered in the project Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective (yarg 2015 ̶ 2019), which explored the values and religious subjectivities of young adult university students in thirteen different countries around the world. In a largely explorative fashion, the article focuses on the only two predominantly Muslim samples included in the project: Turkey and Muslims in Israel. On the basis of quantitative data, the article outlines the significant correlations found between respondents’ degrees of personal religiosity, frequency of religious practice, and levels of internet use for religion-related purposes. On the basis of qualitative data, the article then moves to explore how concerns about the trustworthiness of online content and the continuing influence of offline religious authorities work to shape and inform the online religious engagements of our Turkish and Israeli Muslim young adult respondents.