Identity Politics in a Mediatized Religious Environment on Facebook: Yes to Wearing the Cross Whenever and Wherever I Choose

Abstract

The Norwegian Facebook page, Yes to wearing the cross whenever and wherever I choose was initially created to protest the prohibition of the cross for NRK-news anchors. Yet, many of the discussions and audience interactions transpired into heated religio-political debates with strong elements of anti-Muslim, xenophobic, anti-secular and anti-atheist sentiments. This study aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between media and religion, by providing new insights on the variety of ways in which media audiences may ‘add a series of dynamics to conflicts, namely, amplification, framing and performative agency, and co-structuring’, and ‘perform conflict’ as formulated by Hjarvard et al. It is argued that mediatized conflicts with inherent trigger themes, which tug at core religio-political identity issues, also tend to evoke emotional responses, which in turn, inspire social media users to perform the conflict in ways that multiply the conflict(s).