Power and the Cost of Faith: A Case Study of Religion Communication and Commercialisation in the Digital Age

Religious activities in China today are being changed by the digital era. Electronic wooden fish apps, Buddhist amulets and symbolic accessories are now popular among young people, but they often reduce the profound religious traditions to mere consumer goods and performative symbols. How modern society is changing people's conception of, application for and dissemination of religious ideas. Based on the two contrasting case studies, this paper will examine the mechanisms of religious distortion and countermeasures. Firstly, the religious merit and morality have been reduced to commodities and have lost their original ethical connotations. The second case is that temples, museums and other knowledge-based media can promote religious literacy through ethical content. According to the study, the cost of faith in modern society is not due to religion itself but rather to how it is expressed and consumed. Call for institutional accountability, platform regulation and educational innovation to promote critical religious literacy and preserve the deep cultural and ethical values of religion.