Conference Report: 15th International Roundtable on Media and Religion & Spirituality in Asia

Religion and Social Communication Vol. 24, No. 1 (2026)
ISSN 3057-0883 (Online)

Author

Jomar Redubla
FEU Cavite, Philippines
Email: jomarredubla@gmail.com / jredubla@feucavite.edu.ph

Conference Details

Event: 15th International Roundtable on Media and Religion & Spirituality in Asia
Theme: The Media and Religion & Spirituality in Asia
Organizers:

Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication (ARC)
Department of Peace Studies, International College, Payap University
Venue: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Date: November 1–2, 2025

Conference Report Summary

This conference report documents the 15th International Roundtable on Media and Religion & Spirituality in Asia, held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The conference gathered scholars, practitioners, and activists across Asia and beyond to explore the evolving intersections of media, religion, and spirituality in contemporary society. The program featured keynote lectures, plenary discussions, panel sessions, and parallel roundtables. The opening ceremony emphasized interfaith dialogue, cultural exchange, and the role of communication in peacebuilding.

The keynote lecture by Dr. Heidi A. Campbell examined “Charismatic Technologies and Religious Affordances,” focusing on artificial intelligence, GPTs, and digital religion in Asian contexts. A major panel organized by the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice addressed religion, media, and public scholarship for social justice. The parallel sessions covered themes such as digital evangelization, artificial intelligence and spirituality, media ecology, feminist theology, film, ecology, biblical hermeneutics, and public religion.

The report concludes that the roundtable successfully demonstrated how digital technologies are reshaping religious practices, public theology, and social engagement across Asia. It affirms the necessity of ethically responsible, interculturally grounded, and critically reflective scholarship in navigating media and spirituality today.

Keywords

conference report, media and religion, digital spirituality, Asia, public scholarship, artificial intelligence, social justice

Pages: 245–249

Cite this Conference Report

Redubla, Jomar. “Conference Report: 15th International Roundtable on Media and Religion & Spirituality in Asia.” Religion and Social Communication 24, no. 1 (2026): 245–249.

Conference Report: 15th International Roundtable on Media and Religion & Spirituality in Asia

Download