How Memes Criticize Religion
Memes like Advice God are critical of religion. This memes presents God as someone who's harsh and unethical and therefore should be questioned or regarded with suspicion. It shows Christianity as a contradictory religion and demonstrates how religious symbolism can undermine religious views. This is still a form of lived religion, it is just an irreligious version that is aided by online participatory culture. 1
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In this, we see that memes depicting religious icons and people oftentimes make generalized assumptions about religion. They tend to emphasize the negative viewpoints of religious ideas, practices, and narratives. 2
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This goes even deeper when we look at how the internet itself is considered bad for religion. Author Vexen Crabtree points out that the internet has made religions easier to disprove, scholars often damage the reputation of holy texts, some religious authorities have used the internet as a way of censoring atheists, and that the internet's access to information can place religious teachings out of order and out of context. 3
1 Bellar, Wendi, et al. “Reading Religion in Internet Memes.” Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, vol. 2, no. 2, 2013, pp. 14
2 Campbell, Heidi. “NMRDC Study: Religious Memes Mix Faith & Humor for Unpredictable Result.” Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies, Texas A&M University and the IDHMC, 13 Feb. 2014, digitalreligion.tamu.edu/blog/thu-02132014-1536/nmrdc-study-religious-memes-mix-faith-humor-unpredictable-result.
3 Crabtree, Vexen. “The Internet and Religion.” Www.humanreligions.info, 2013, www.humanreligions.info/internet.html.