Religion, authority and denunciation in the paradigm of mediatization: The case of the Congolese diaspora of the Salvation Army

Abstract

The article aims to explain denunciation as a form of communication with regards to contestation. It examines this object within the limits posed by the conceptual triangle that associates religion, authority and media. The empirical field investigated considers the case of two virtual communities of the Congolese diaspora of the Salvation Army. Denunciatory occurrences were identified using the thematic analysis of occurrences with the aim of understanding the function and communicational substance of the public denunciation of the respective religious leadership, as well as the major issues that focus the questioning of the authority of this leadership on social media. Findings indicate that the influence of mediatization on religious diasporas have produced a challenge to religious authority that is forged through practices of public denunciation in digital media. Religious leadership, religiosity, doctrines and dogmas are subject to a communicative intention which makes them vulnerable.