wired.com, Fed Blotter: MySpace Sex Offender Charged With Running Fake Internet Church, 14 Nov 08 "A convicted pedophile who turned up in MySpace's 2007 purge of sex offenders faces new charges of bank fraud for allegedly running counterfeit checks through a bank account he established for his online church, TruthOfGodMinistries.org."

Telegraph, Jews ditch prayer books in favour of Blackberries, 5 Nov 08 "Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University, said: "I love it, because now I can not only look how the market is doing, but I can also say my evening prayers."

"And using GPS technology, the software will soon enable Jews to create minyans–the 10-member groups necessary for prayer, according to the paper."

Details: Jewberry

AFP, Teenage hacker admits Scientology cyber-attack, 17 Oct 08 "Dmitriy Guzner, 18, of New Jersey will plead guilty to computer hacking for his role in launching a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack against Scientology websites in January this year, the Justice Department said."

Telegraph, Google reverses ban on Christian group’s anti-abortion advert, 17 Sep 08

Telegraph, Dead Sea scrolls to be put online, 26 Aug 08 "The Israeli authorities are taking digital photographs of the Dead Sea scrolls, the earliest known copies of the Hebrew Bible, and planning to put them online for public view."

BBC News, Council ban on atheist websites, 29 Jul 08 Refers to Birmingham City Council: "The authority's Bluecoat WebFilter computer system allows staff to look at websites relating to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and other religions but blocks sites to do with "witchcraft or Satanism" and "occult practices, atheistic views, voodoo rituals or any other form of mysticism".

"Under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, it is unlawful to discriminate against workers because of their religion or belief, which includes atheism."

thenational.ae, ‘Indianised’ Bible is a best seller, 24 Jul 08 ""The scholars felt that any serious and contextualised and inculturated commentary on the sacred text, made specially for India, could not ignore the rich cultural and religious heritage of the land," said Fr Tony Charanghat, a spokesman for the archbishop of Mumbai." Not sure if this will be online, but it is an interesting story. Also see Mumbai Mirror, The Bible with a touch of India, 9 Jul 08

Reuters/msnbc, 1,600-year-old version of Bible goes online: Technology brings one of oldest cultural artifacts accessible to everyone, 21 Jul 08 "From Thursday, sections of the Codex Sinaiticus, which contains the oldest complete New Testament, will be available on the Internet, said the University of Leipzig, one of the four curators of the ancient text worldwide.

"High resolution images of the Gospel of Mark, several Old Testament books, and notes on the work made over centuries will appear on www.codex-sinaiticus.net as a first step towards publishing the entire manuscript online by next July."

AFP, Pope's message goes hi-tech in Australia, 15 Jul 08

"Pope Benedict XVI took a new hi-tech road to spreading his message Tuesday, sending a mobile phone text to pilgrims attending World Youth Day celebrations in Australia, organisers said.

""Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI," read the first of the daily texts."

Guardian, Priest at prayer gets 150,000 hits, 30 Jun 08 "The diocese of Besançon in eastern France has launched Prêtre Academy - Priest Academy - to mark its first ordination of a new local priest for three years.

"In episodes available online, viewers can watch the new recruit, Franck Ruffiot, 30, demonstrate how he prays, pay a visit to trendy contemporary artist friend and explain his feelings in a diary room. Two slightly older priests, Michel and Christophe, are followed in their daily lives."

Haven't checked this out yet, but here's a starting point: Daily Moton, Prêtres Academy-intro

Guardian, Manna from hedge fund for Christian site, 13 May 08 "GodTube, an evangelical twist on YouTube, its secular video-sharing equivalent, has generated so many hits that a London-based hedge fund has poured money into it. GLG Partners, which has no known religious affiliation, has backed GodTube with an investment of $30m. With almost 80% of the American population - about 240 million - describing themselves as Christian, there is a thriving market for the site." Details: GodTube

Reuters, Pope goes digital to better connect with youth, 7 May 08 "The Pope will text daily messages of inspiration and hope during the six-day Sydney event while digital prayer walls will be erected at event sites and the church will set up a Catholic social networking Web site akin to a Catholic Facebook."

UPI, Polish priests warned on plagiarism, 26 Apr 08 "The Roman Catholic Church in Poland has warned priests who use the Internet or other sources for their sermons they could be fined or imprisoned for plagiarism.

"The church has published "To Plagiarize or Not to Plagiarize," a guide that provides sermon-writing tips while warning priests about the consequences of stealing intellectual property."

AFP, New technology triggers battle for information from Tibet, 18 Mar 08 "Blogs, chatrooms and mobile phones have helped information about Tibetan protests to stream out faster than ever, but China is also harnessing technology, as well as fear, to stem the flow."

CNN, Nations dropped from Monopoly site after Jerusalem fuss, 22 Feb 08, "An Israeli lobbying group, One Jerusalem, is driving an Internet campaign that pushed the city to 5th place in the Monopoly vote -- guaranteeing Jerusalem a spot on the board -- before Hasbro made the leaderboard a secret to add mystery to the final days of voting."

Reuters/Yahoo, Orthodox gays in Israel find support in Web site, 14 Feb 08 "An underground movement of gay Orthodox Jews in Israel has created a Web site to help homosexuals cope with living in a strict, religious community that is often hostile to their lifestyle.

"The site is the first public forum in the Jewish state where gay members of the Orthodox community can seek support and advice."

Here's a link for information on the film Orthodox Stance (shown on BBC4 on 12 Feb 08), about boxer Dmitriy Salita. "As he fights in New York in front of Russian immigrants, Hasidic Jews and hard-core boxing fans, Dmitriy's celebrity grows and he is ultimately invited to the White House for President Bush's Hanukkah party. Through his uncompromising devotion to boxing and Judaism, and comfort and confidence with who he is, the film shows how Dmitriy is part of these very different worlds on his own terms, in ways that feel both true to him and new to us." The film features a performance by Matisyahu.

AKI, Vatican: Bid to sell sacred bones in online auction provokes outrage, 11 Feb 08 "Sacred bones allegedly belonging to dead saints and other religious figures are being sold on the online auction site Ebay despite complaints to the Vatican.

"According to the Italian daily, La Stampa, two organisations, the International Crusade for Holy Relics and the Italian Telefono Antiplagio, have complained that the bones, known by the Latin term 'ex-ossibus', are being sold on the English and Italian Ebay sites respectively."

The Register, Israel gets kosher phone service, 6 Feb 08 "Bezeq's new service is aimed at the ultra-Orthodox customer. It's been endorsed by leading rabbis, but they are expecting to be able to sell it to a much broader audience including concerned parents. The service is far from unique in Israel, though as the dominant operator Bezeq's move into the market is significant. It is interesting to see the use of religious endorsement to sell the service to secular parents - it's hard to imagine the Church of England (or Scotland) being trusted to endorse a pornography-free communications service."

Guardian, Hackers declare war on Scientologists amid claims of heavy-handed Cruise control, 4 Feb 08 "The hackers were infuriated by the removal from YouTube last month of a Scientologists' video clip featuring Tom Cruise. They have alleged that Scientologists forced YouTube to remove the embarrassing footage, in which the actor hailed the religion as "a blast"."

AFP/alarabiya.net, Mourn online with Israeli e-funerals, 31 Jan 08 "Israel's main Jewish burial society, Khevra Kadisha, has launched a unique service allowing funerals to be broadcast online and for mourners to view them all over the world."

Threat Level from Wired.com, War Breaks Out Between Hackers and Scientology -- There Can Be Only One, 23 Jan 08 "A loose confederation of online troublemakers who call themselves Anonymous have declared war on the Church of Scientology by flooding its servers with fake data requests, describing the attacks as punishment for the Church's alleged abuse of copyright laws and alleged brainwashing of its members."

AP/Yahoo! News, Apparent suicides shock Welsh town, 23 Jan 08, "Police say there appears to be no common link between the deaths. But at least one newspaper published a photograph of two of the dead together, fueling speculation of suicide pacts struck among friends linked by Internet social networking sites."

Reuters, Rabbis play online cupid to help Jews marry Jews, 21 Jan 08, "Marrying outside the faith is an issue for many in the U.S. Jewish community who are concerned about dwindling demographic numbers, family tensions and the pressures on children pulled in different religious directions."