According to a Premier Christianity article published in 2018, the “verse of the day” feature common on Bible apps could actually “be skewing your view of God.” The apps populate “their verse of the day lists with those verses most tweeted or shared by the user community.” Because people are more likely to share feel-good verses than more meaty or difficult passages, this algorithmic approach produces a “tendency towards therapeutic texts,” creating “a therapeutic filter bubble.” As such, the frequent user of a Bible app runs the risk of placing his feelings and desires at the center of his devotional life, of practicing an “algorithmic spirituality,” rather than facing the uncomfortable and demanding task of conforming himself to reality.

In her 2020 study of “new religions for a godless world,” Strange Rites, cultural critic Tara Isabella Burton described the contemporary religious landscape as intuitional, self-curated, and results-focused. This “remixed” spirituality (she includes everything from witch covens and SoulCyclers to polycules and Silicon Valley transhumanists) is the religion of the Instagram feed, no less than Protestantism was the religion of the printing press. …

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