Category: Internet
The Internet has become a hub of religious worship for millions of people around the world. For many cyber-worshipers, online religious life conducted at home or in an Internet cafe has replaced attendance at traditional churches, temples, mosques and synagogues.
It has been attacked many times in its short life, most notably by a former aide to Robert F Kennedy and the editor of Encyclopaedia Britannica. But now the online reference site Wikipedia has a new foe: evangelical Christians.
Teenagers’ use of the Internet for spiritual or religious experience grew by 200 percent between 1998 and 2001, according to a study by the Barna Research Group. Forty-six percent of teens expected to use the Internet to talk about what they believe.
The Internet domain name Hell.com failed to be bought via a live auction Friday, which organizers had hoped would bring bids of more than $1 million.
Churches use technology for outreach The power of broadband Internet service is expanding the reach of the servants of God. Increasingly, houses of worship and individuals are using the new generation of Internet broadcasting to reach adherents and those outside their communities, in a trend sometimes called “Godcasting.” People listen to audio recordings that are converted into a digital format, then distributed and downloaded to portable music players or Web-connected personal computers. “We want to try to make worship opportunities and learning from the word of God available to as many people as we can,” said the Rev. Marion Arbuckle,
Company Agrees to Restrict Access to Some Sites Chinese Government Doesn’t Want Citizens to See Jan. 25, 2006 – Saying that providing some information is better than providing no information, Google Inc. today defended its decision to cooperate with China’s demand to censor some Web search results. The company agreed to block some sites that cover human rights, Tibet and other topics Beijing doesn’t want the citizens of this communist nation to research. Google.cn will “provide meaningful benefits to Chinese Internet users,” said Google senior policy counsel Andrew McLaughlin, referring to the company’s new China site. In the past,
(Aug. 29) — Kyle Lewis, 25, missed going to church one Sunday last month. But he did not miss the sermon. Mr. Lewis, who regularly attends services of the National Community Church in Alexandria, Va., listened to the sermon while he was at the gym, through a recording he had downloaded to his iPod. Instead of listening to the rock music his gym usually plays, he heard his pastor’s voice. “Having an iPod is a guaranteed way to get the sermon if you’re going to be out of town,” Mr. Lewis said, adding that he listens to the pastor’s podcast
By the time Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany assumed his new papal moniker on Tuesday, it already was too late for the Vatican to buy the corresponding dot-com Web address. That’s because a St. Augustine, Fla., man, Rogers Cadenhead, registered the address BenedictXVI.com on April 1, hoping that would be the name of John Paul II’s successor. To cover his bases, Cadenhead, 38, also registered ClementXV.com, InnocentXIV.com, LeoXIV.com, PaulVII.com and PiusXIII.com. Cadenhead, the author of 20 technology “how-to” books with titles like “Teach Yourself Java in 21 Days,” said he registered the names for $12 each from Internet address seller
In many ways, Lisa Butterworth is the very image of Mormon devotion; she lives in Boise, Idaho, with her husband and their three children younger than 4, faithfully attending church and teaching Sunday school. But then there is her Web log, or blog, FeministMormonHousewives.blogspot.com. Unlike the more mainstream Mormon blogs – known collectively as the Bloggernacle – that by and large promote the faith, this online diary focuses on the universal challenges of mothering young children and on frustration with the limited roles women have in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “I was getting really frustrated at
The growth area in unsolicited email is now spam containing religious mesages. And the bad news is that unlike commercial spam, it’s not illegal Email recipients are being offered religious salvation through the power of spam, according to security company MessageLabs. The anti-spam company has intercepted a large number of spiritual emails in the last month, which it says are legal because they don’t plug products, just religious ideals. “It’s on the rise for a number of reasons,” said Matt Sergeant, anti-spam technologist for MessageLabs. “It is exempt from spam laws and it’s legal according to most national laws including