Transforming Religious Legitimacy through Digital Advocacy: The Emergence of Moral Authority in Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37680/muharrik.v8i1.9257Abstract
The increasing cases of abuse of religious authority in Indonesia has given rise to a crisis of legitimacy against religious institutions and figures while opening up space for re-examination of the source of moral authority in the digital era. This study aims to explain the mechanism of legitimacy transformation in the context of religious authority crisis through advocacy practices based on religious values, with the Yakuza Maneges Movement as a critical case. The study uses a qualitative approach with a case study design and Digital Discourse Analysis (DDA) on 64 online news, 51 Instagram uploads, and 395 public comments analyzed during January-July 2026. Data were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify patterns of relationships between authority crises, advocacy practices, digital visibility, public evaluation, and the formation of moral legitimacy. The results of the study showed four interrelated processes, namely religious authority crisis, legitimacy negotiations in the digital space, reconstruction of social piety, and the formation of moral authority. The findings show that religious genealogy provides initial social capital, but does not automatically guarantee moral authority. Moral legitimacy is formed when social capital is realized through ethical advocacy, victimhood, and accountable actions that are visible to the public and continuously evaluated through digital interactions. This study proposes a Performance-Based Moral Authority (PBMA) model that specifies a mechanism for transforming legitimacy from the initial source of authority to moral authority through ethical action, digital visibility, and real-time public evaluation.
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