Baptisms Via Zoom

Photo by Jazmin De Guzman on Unsplash

In my course on religion in the virtual space, we discussed the meaning of rituals performed in the virtual space where the ritual occurs completely online or where the virtual space is an intermediary that connects the practitioners. As is typical of conversations in graduate courses, we spent a bit of time discussing what a ritual was, what authority is, whether or not the internet is a space like the inside of a temple is a space, and what religion is (or isn't). While I am interested in discussing the theoretical aspects of ritual and the questions raised by virtual rituals, I'm equally interested in looking at how people live out religion and how that can inform our theories and pondering. To that end, I will be looking at the ritual of baptism within Christianity.

The Christian practice of baptism involves either the person having water sprinkled or poured on them or partial to full submersion under the water. There are many theological beliefs around baptism, but generally, baptism is seen as a vital part of someone becoming a Christian. The question of efficacy - of whether a ritual "counts" - is for another time requiring much more thinking and exploration. For now, though, I will say there are two metrics for judging the efficacy of a ritual. The first is the participant's subjective experience (s); how did they feel about it, perceive the ritual as working, and do it "do something" for them. The second metric is the opinion or decision of the (or a) authority; that is, does the ritual meet the metrics of the authorized form. Leaving aside the brambly thicket of authority and subjective experience in religion and ritual, I want to focus on one example of online baptism.

In looking for online baptisms, most of them were done via Zoom or a similar platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. One church, City of Life Church in Kissimmee, Florida, has a page describing their "Zoom Baptisms" with instructions on how to go about the ritual. Of particular note is this part "we will have our pastors baptize you over Zoom while you or your friends/family members pour the water over your head or immerse you fully in the water. Our entire church will celebrate with you as you are baptized!"

These instructions reveal two sources of authority. The first is the authority of the pastors. Note that it is the pastors who are doing the baptism, regardless of who is doing what with the water. The second is the witness of the church; their inclusion is of note here, and I imagine there are theologies of witness and community imbricated in their participation. While the presence of the church may not be a requirement for an efficacious baptism, this church seems to emphasize their participation as witnesses.

The Zoom baptisms conducted by City of Life Church are merely one example of a ritual that has been forcibly innovated as the result of necessity - in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic. This case study overlooks other forms of baptism online that may not require an ecclesiastic authority to make it efficacious or forms of baptism that occur entirely online with no "real" water being used. While the authority of a pastor to be the one doing the baptizing surely has theological implications and is a contested issue, suffice it to say that it is a settled matter for this church. A pastor simply must be the one to do the baptizing