Vatican Bans Confession Via iPhone App

huffingtonpost.com, Vatican Bans Confession Via iPhone App "Got sins? A new app for the iPhone and the iPad seeks to help Catholics prepare for confession, that sacred ritual of seeking penance for sins big and small."

Religion 2.0: Local clergy make net gains

The Capital - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX/business-video.tmcnet.com, Religion 2.0: Local clergy make net gains, 21 Nov 2010 "Today, clergy use many other innovations besides Facebook and Twitter. Everything from texting to Skyping is common, as is blogging and podcasting. Without all of them, pastors said, there's a danger of losing touch with the younger generation."

Married? Quit Facebook...

huffingtonpost.com, Rev. Cedric Miller Tells Married Couples To Quit Facebook, 17 Nov 2010

When Religion Meets New Media: New Publications in Religion and the Internet

When Religion Meets New Media: New Publications in Religion and the Internet useful links

God and Facebook: Is social networking changing religion? | ReligionLink

God and Facebook: Is social networking changing religion? | ReligionLink op-ed/links

Catholic bloggers

Rachel Zoll, AP/Washington Post, Catholic bloggers aim to purge dissenters, 24 Oct 2010

"Pressure is on to change the Roman Catholic Church in America, but it's not coming from the usual liberal suspects. A new breed of theological conservatives has taken to blogs and YouTube to say the church isn't Catholic enough."

BBC News - Google helps Dead Sea Scrolls enter internet age

BBC News, Google helps Dead Sea Scrolls enter internet age, 21 Oct 2010

"Sixty years after a shepherd happened upon the Dead Sea Scrolls, a plan aims to bring them into the internet age.

"Researchers at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), aided by scientists at Google, plan to image the 2,000-year old documents and publish them online."

The Pope's remarks on atheism and Nazis

BBC News, Daily View: The Pope's remarks on atheism and Nazis, 17 Sep 2010 bloggers' responses

Huffington Post - Religion

Let's hear it for the Huffington Post. It has some of the best coverage of contemporary religious issues, drawing from a variety of sources, with some particularly good columnists. I've pointed to several on my Facebook.

Rev. James Martin, Is Your Mother Holier Than Mother Teresa? particularly caught my attention recently.

I'm curious to know what the impact is of these online religious articles, and whether they are replacing conventional religious press? Sounds like an interesting subject for a thesis...

BBC - Rev

I've enjoyed watching episodes of 'Rev'. I'm still catching up, and haven't seen them sequentially. It's the best religiously oriented comedy I've seen since the excellent 'Little Mosque on the Prairie', and has picked up some positive reviews (including from Rowland Williams). The cast is outstanding, as is the writing (a revelation, dare I say?). International readers should point their local TV stations to Rev. UK viewers can see the full shows on iPlayer - no doubt episodes will emerge on YouTube as well... The link to this blog is that episode six has the central character responding to a poor online review of a sermon.

LA Times, Priest's "sermonettes" offer daily dose of spirituality through the iPhone

Mitchell Landsberg, LA Times, Priest's "sermonettes" offer daily dose of spirituality through the iPhone, 25 Apr 2010 "Manning, an author and television personality who has a show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, said that his early sermonettes were built around a daily reading from Scripture but that future ones will talk about the sometimes uneasy intersection of religion and science.

"He is aware, he said, that his iPhone sermons are reaching people at a time when the image of the Catholic Church is suffering from its handling of sexual abuse cases. "Very, very much so," he said. "The pain of what's going on is very, very, very deep in my own soul and heart. And I'm filled with sadness and I'm filled with deep apologies for what people have done, for what people I know have done.""

Also see GNT, Vatican Observatory Foundation iPhone App Launched Easter Sunday, 27 Apr 2010

Vatican Observatory Foundation

iTunes, Daily Sermonettes on Catholic Faith and Scripture with Fr. Mike Manning

Bishop offers salvation over Facebook

Telegraph, Bishop offers salvation over Facebook, 24 Feb 2010 "Bishop Robert Evens, of Crediton, Devon, also known as Bishop Bob, has invited anyone in need of prayer to send in their requests to him this Lent, by email or text or through the social networking website."

"Finding The Spirituality In New Media"

Steven Barrie-Anthony, Huffington Post, Finding The Spirituality In New Media, 24 Feb 2010

Get blogging, Pope tells priests

Telegraph, Get blogging, Pope tells priests, 25 Jan 2010, "Pope Benedict XVI will use his World Communications Day message in May to encourage the clergy to start blogging and using the internet and social media to connect better with their flocks. “Priests stand at the threshold of a new era,” he will say in a text entitled “The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World:New Media at the Service of the Word”. "

DDOS: from God with love

neteffect, DDOS: from God with love, 21 Oct 09 "On hearing the news that web-sites of several atheist foundations/NGOs have become victims of severe DDoS attacks, I could only think about one thing: it would be quite hard to blame these attacks on either China or Russia."

LDS Church and the net

mormontimes.com, LDS Church using the Internet to its advantage, 8 Oct 09 "There are "Mormon Messages" on YouTube, the Mormon Channel streaming online and several sites designed specifically for search engine optimization. Future offerings may include personalized online general conference journals, upgraded ward directories and content for mobile phones."

Scientology

Julian Dibbel, wired.com, The Assclown Offensive: How to Enrage the Church of Scientology, Wired 17:10 background on 4chan and campaigning techniques used against Scientology

Holy Apps

Guardian,The app economy, 29 Jul 09 discusses several religiously oriented apps for the iPhone, such as iBreviary (longer article in American Magazine on the latter app).

Internet et religion

Jean-François Mayer, Livre: Internet et religion - les enjeux d'une mutation technologique (Infolio/Religioscope)

Details on a new book (in French) on the study of religion and the internet. Some specific content in relation to Islam, and some interesting thoughts on how to approach this growing discipline. I would advise students to use this on my Studying Religions on the Internet MA module. Recommended.

Virtual Shtetl Portal

AFP, High-tech edge for Poland's Jewish history, 16 Jun 09 "The creators of Poland's future Museum of Polish Jews Tuesday in Warsaw launched the Virtual Shtetl website, a portal they hope will build the museum's collection even before its doors open in 2011.

""This portal has the potential to become the greatest source of information about Jewish life in Poland prior to the war," project creator and coordinator Albert Stankowski told reporters in Warsaw Tuesday."

See Virtual Shtetl Portal

Koogle

Reuters, Orthodox Jews launch "kosher" search engine, 14 Jun 09 "Religiously devout Jews barred by rabbis from surfing the Internet may now "Koogle" it on a new "kosher" search engine, the site manager said on Sunday.

"Yossi Altman said Koogle, a play on the names of a Jewish noodle pudding and the ubiquitous Google, appears to meet the standards of Orthodox rabbis, who restrict use of the Web to ensure followers avoid viewing sexually explicit material."

Lester Haines, The Register, Orthodox Jews tuck into kosher Koogle, 15 Jun 09 "Orthodox Jews - whose religious beliefs have previously kept them a safe distance from the internet - can now avail themselves of a "kosher" search engine, suitably tuned to satisfy even the most demanding rabbi."

Some sections of Koogle appear to still be in development.

China's computers at hacking risk

BBC News, China's computers at hacking risk, 10 Jun 09 "Every PC in China could be at risk of being taken over by malicious hackers because of flaws in compulsory government software."

'Holy Twitter! They're tweeting from the pews'

Diane Mapes, MSNBC, Holy Twitter! They're tweeting from the pews, 2 Jun 09 "Welcome to the 3G(od) network, where social media have become as vital a communication tool for clergy and congregations as the traditional post-sermon coffee hour. While not all churches have gone as far as to incorporate real-time Twitter streams into their Sunday services, many are using Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social networking sites to get the word (or, rather, “the Word”) out there."

Interesting article, with plenty of detail.

Twitter Users Join Psychic Powers Study

Sky News, Twitter Users Join Psychic Powers Study. 1 Jun 09 "The test, conducted by university professor Richard Wiseman, requires Tweeters to correctly guess a location from five photographs."

wired.com, Wikipedia Bans Church of Scientology

wired.com, Wikipedia Bans Church of Scientology, May 29, 2009 "Wikipedia has banned the Church of Scientology from editing any articles. It’s a punishment for repeated and deceptive editing of articles related to the controversial religion. The landmark ruling comes from the inner circle of a site that prides itself on being open and inclusive."

Guardian, Seek and ye shall find, 19 May 09

"Ecclesiastical history is not, at first glance, a topic naturally associated with the web. Yet a pioneering web database is taking shape that whizzes church history smartly into the 21st century. The Clergy of the Church of England database (CCEd) aims to provide a constantly updated digital record of the identity and career of every Anglican clergy man in England and Wales over three centuries, from the Reformation to the start of the Victorian age."

Find The Clergy Database here. I thought this was a fascinating article, demonstrating the potential of online resources as a significant tool of study (even though the clergy is not my area!).

Facebook removes Holocause denial groups

CNET, Facebook confirms removal of two Holocaust denial groups. Is it enough?, 11 May 09, "Facebook has confirmed my earlier suspicion that it has disabled two of the five Holocaust denial groups whose presence has caused much controversy over the past week, following attorney Brian Cuban's consistent pressure for the groups' removal."

'Jesus Face' iPhone app

CNET, Apple rejects 'Jesus Face' iPhone app, 11 May 09 "An iPhone app called "Me So Holy," that allowed you take a face shot and insert it into a portrait of Jesus or some other religious figure, has been rejected by Apple's tasterati."

When Religion Meets New Media

Currently reading Heidi Campbell, When Religion Meets New Media which contains a range of detailed links on the academic study of religion and the net.

Bible Nano

AFP, Israel president to offer Pope nano Bible, 8 May 09"The Hebrew-language Bible was engraved on a 0.5 square millimetre (0.0008 square inch) chip by scientists from Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology."

Religious teaching straight to your iPod

USA Today, Religious teaching straight to your iPod, 9 Apr 09 "Evangelists have long used the airwaves to get their messages out to a mass audience. But now, podcast technology is opening the doors to a wider variety of religious teaching than ever before, available on demand and delivered automatically to the computers of a growing number of Americans hungry for spirituality."

Facebook CofE

Church of England, Successful youth vocations conference continues on Facebook, 27 Apr 09 "Eighteen would-be priests aged 16 to 19 attending the Church of England’s first specially organised vocations conference for young people in more than 30 years are to continue meeting on Facebook as they listen to their calling. The conference was held at Westcott House and Ridley Hall theological colleges in Cambridge on 17th-19th April, 2009."

Worldwide Faith News, 2010 Religion Communication Congress to Explore Religion Perceptions

"Changes in perceptions about religion, its influence in the public arena and how technology delivers the message are among the issues communicators will consider at Religion Communication Congress 2010."

Also see Religion Communication Congress

CSM, Cyber spy network with global reach raises alarms, 29 Mar 09

"A group of hackers based almost exclusively in China has hacked into 1,295 computers in 103 countries. Canadian researchers at the University of Toronto revealed that cyber spies infiltrated systems in foreign ministries, embassies, international organizations, and the offices of the Dalai Lama. Thirty percent of the targeted computers could be considered "high-value" targets. No US government computers were compromised; however, the cyber spies broke into a NATO computer for half a day."

Telegraph, Facebook group attacks the Vatican with condom campaign, 28 Mar 09

"A campaign on Facebook has recruited tens of thousands of supporters to bombard the Vatican with condoms to protest against the Pope's controversial remarks about the spread of HIV."

Pope on net

Times Online, Pope embraces internet in apology over Holocaust bishop, 11 Mar 09 "The Pope has admitted fallibility over the Vatican's handling of a Holocaust-denying bishop and has vowed to make full use of the internet to make sure the Holy See is not caught out again."

SongMap

NPR, Web-Based Program Maps Sunday Worship, n.d. "The Southern Baptist Convention has introduced a new Web-based application called SongMap, which allows music ministers to rearrange hymns and contemporary praise songs with a few clicks of the mouse. For example, the traditional hymn "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross" has four verses and four choruses, but the Web site allows a verse to be cut, a chorus to be added or the song to be put in a new key. "

WebUser, Church asks faithful to give up Facebook, 4 Mar 09 "Catholic priests are asking the faithful in Italy to throw away their iPhones and not log into Facebook for Lent.

"Church leaders hope that by giving up text messages and updating status messages on social-networking websites, people will rediscover the art of communication without using technology."

AP/wired.com, Vatican 2.0: Pope gets his own YouTube channel, 24 Jan 09 "Puffs of smoke, speeches in Latin and multipage encyclicals have all been used by the Vatican to communicate with the faithful. Now the pope is trying to broaden his audience by joining the wannabe musicians, college pranksters and water-skiing squirrels on YouTube. In his inaugural YouTube foray Friday, Pope Benedict XVI welcomed viewers to this "great family that knows no borders" and said he hoped they would "feel involved in this great dialogue of truth.""

Also see:

AKI, Vatican: Pope uses YouTube to reach 'digital generation', 23 Jan 09 "Pope Benedict XVI on Friday reached out to the digital generation and launched his own channel on the popular video-sharing YouTube website. The site will be updated with daily news bulletins initially in English, Spanish, German and Italian, said Vatican press office chief, Federico Lombardi.

"The website (www.youtube.com/vaticanit) will carry up to four video clips a day of the Pope's speeches and activities and also contains links to Vatican Radio, the Vatican daily newspaper Osservatore Romano and information on the Vatican, Lombardi told a media conference in Rome."

AFP, Atheism 2.0 -- Indonesia's nonbelievers find refuge online, 24 Jan 09 "Chain-smoking at a trendy coffee shop while studiously ignoring the mosque's evening call to prayer, Indonesian atheists Didi and Dewi have little patience for the beliefs of most of their countrymen.

"The two young women are defiant unbelievers in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, but they let few people in the real world know it.

"Instead, the women have joined scores of young Indonesian atheists who have found refuge on the Internet, using web tools such as social networking sites, mailing lists, blogs and wikis to communicate with like-minded people in a country where declaring there is no God can turn someone into an outcast."

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."

AFP, Israeli scientists put Bible on chip smaller than pinhead "Israeli scientists said on Tuesday they have created the world's smallest Bible, fitting a Hebrew-language version of the holy book on a gold-coated silicon chip smaller than a pinhead."

Via Guardian, 15 Nov 07 "Beliefnet is beta-testing a social networking service for spiritual people." Check it out here: Beliefnet Community Beta

BBC News, Bible download for mobile phone, 2 Oct 07 "A line of religious mobile phone products has been launched by a Monmouthshire firm - including downloading the Bible for £6."

Guardian, Now available online: Pope John Paul II's robes, 24 Sept 07 "Supplied without charge, the circular dots of cotton, measuring about 4mm in diameter, come pressed into a postcard bearing a photo of John Paul on one side and a prayer on the other. They are available by clicking a link on the website of the diocese of Rome and filling in the email application."

AFP, Technology puts Myanmar protests in international eye, 26 Sept 07, "Myanmar's swelling protests are in the global spotlight with the help of hi-tech gadgets in the era of YouTube -- a stark contrast to the 1988 uprising in the pre-Internet age."

Reuters/Yahoo News, Online shrines for "death networking", 2 Sept 07 "Candy's virtual memorial to her daughter was one of the starting blocks for what some call the latest "e-trend" in Britain.

"Candy now runs a Web site, www.alwaysberemembered.co.uk, on which she offers the bereaved a way of paying tribute to their dead. Users create a memorial page with pictures, poems and tributes which can be visited, viewed and added to by anyone who feels a need." Very interesting article on this sensitive issue, UK based, links to other sites as well.

Skanda Vale, home of Shambo, a temple bull that tested positive with Bovine TB (although that diagnosis in itself was controversial), led a vigorous campaign to save it. This attracted international media coverage, such as in the Times of India, Sacred bull Shambo slaughtered. and hundreds of other media outlets (listed by Google News). This is a 'local' story for me, so has generated substantial interest.

MidEast News Source, Google Your to Way to God, 17 May 07 multi-faith approach to the subject, quite an interesting overview: "Technology has influenced religion in other ways as well – the Internet has created a global community for worshippers of all faiths, connected by just a click of the mouse."

washingtonpost.com, BBC v Scientology: A YouTube Story Starring John Sweeney, When Reporters Attack L. Ron Hubbard "While the verdict may still be out as to whether Scientology is a brainwashing cult or not, after a recent run-in with the BBC, two things are abundantly clear: Scientologists can't stand being called cult members, and they have the power to drive even seasoned journalists absolutely insane." Author Emil Steiner also suggests it would make a good South Park episode (discuss).

BBC News, Reporter's fury caught on tape, 14 May 07 [Media clip] Also see BBC News, Row over Scientology video, 14 May 07 Discussion on the row surrounding a BBC programme on Scientology. The Scientology and me programme will be shown on BBC One at 2030BST [it will also be available on the Panorama website]. Also see the official Scientology website

icwales, Sacred bull to be worldwide net star, 14 May 07"Sacred bull Shambo is to become a worldwide internet star – a webcam is being set up in the temple where he is on death row." Known as MooTube... Details can be found at the Skanda Vale website, which includes an online petition.

Guardian, GodTube - where the rightwing Christians surf, 30 Apr 07 refers to GodTube

The Guardian, Nuns get into internet habit, 27 Apr 07 "The 12 Cistercian nuns of the 13th-century Santo Spirito convent in Agrigento have set up a website and are happy to take questions about what it is like to pray for hours in silence every day.

"The sisters, who speak to visitors, if pushed, through a grille, are being bombarded with inquiries at santospiritoag.com, said Sister Maria, who agreed to answer questions over the phone."

The Guardian, Let us pray ... at St Pixels, the virtual church with bar and bouncy castle, 12 Apr 07 "St Pixel is an imaginary character with no place between SS Pius X and Polycarp in the encyclopaedia of saints. But he presides over a real internet community, which has persuaded the BBC to broadcast its proceedings." St Pixels can be found here

The Slate, Schwing Tone, The religious war on cell-phone porn, 26 Feb 07 Commentary: "North America's first cell-phone porn service surrendered to a Catholic boycott". Full story: canada.com, Telus backs away from wireless pornography, 21 Feb 07

New and apparently selling well: Brian Bailey & Terry Storch's The Blogging Church (Jossey-Banks). The book's page is here. There is a Blogging Church video promo. Also see Bailey's LeaveItBehind blog. I haven't read this one yet, so await reviews with interest.

RevolutionNYC/Sundance/YouTube, One Punk Under God Commercial

Some stories that I missed, which cropped up on WWRN's pages:

• Faith group urges eBay boycott over relic sales
• Beliefnet gives spiritual melting pot new shape
• Boston cardinal starts new Vatican blog
• eBible is latest sign of Web faith
• Intimate Confessions Pour Out on Church’s Web Site
• Divine Inspiration From the Masses
• Cyber-savvy pastors turn to the blog to reach new, younger audience
• Divine inventions: Gadgets hot source of spirituality
• Religion Today
• 'Godcasting:' Love that new-time religion
• Religious blogs test beliefs, power structure
• Downloading God: Churches use podcasts to spread the gospel; faithful turn up volume
• Website attacks Da Vinci Code
• Atheist gives eBay bidders a chance to save his soul
• Life’s age-old mystery: What’s it worth to you?
• A More Intimate Sabbath
• St. Blog's cyberpews packed
• A Pulpit Online for Critics of 'The Da Vinci Code' Film
• D.C. church's 'Daniel' blog seizes preachable moment

Nuns on the web: The Sunday Times, Confessional blogs of the internet nuns, November 26, 2006 "Sister Julie Vieira, from Monroe, Michigan, wrote in her blog, A Nun’s Life: "More and more religious communities are getting ‘wired’ . . .. to spread the Good News and to tell people about who they are and what they stand for." Here's a link to A Nun's Life. There was also an earlier, related article in Time Magazine, Today's Nun Has A Veil--And A Blog, 13 Nov 06 which notes, in relation to the website of the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, that "There's also a downloadable song of the month donated by a Christian artist, in response to the focus groups' revelation that "music was one of the highest ways to communicate with" young people, says vocation director Sister Julie Ann Sheahan. Thus the order's radio and TV ads feature a theme song based on a Franciscan hymn. The tune is also available on the website as a ringtone. Its title: Called to Be."

Blogger speaks (albeit briefly): BBC World Service, Heart and Soul, Sunday 22nd October Listen Again by following the above link until next weekend. Contains contribution from myself and alt.muslim re. religious podcasting in Islamic contexts.

smh.com, Jesus in cyberspace - you'd better believe it, 17 Oct 06 "Sydney Anglicans have appointed their first web evangelist to oversee a new, internet-based ministry."

Cardinal blogs one post, and hits Reuters headlines: Reuters, Boston cardinal adopts new habit with Vatican blog, 21 September 06 Also see Cardinal Seán’s Fall Trip To Rome

Reuters/Yahoo!, Desperate Catholics find "rent-a-priests" online, 30 Aug 06. "Roman Catholics shunned by the official church are "renting" married priests in times of crisis and celebration.

"They turn to http://www.rentapriest.com, a Web site with 2,500 Catholic priests in a national database known as "God's Yellow Pages.""

AFP, China shuts blog by Tibetan author that wished Dalai Lama happy birthday, 31 July 2006

BBC, Is the new Superman meant to be Jesus?, 28 July 2006 "Is the Superman Returns movie meant to remind us of the Bible? And if so, is it blasphemy?

"Well here's the story."

Reuters/yahoo!, Ancient Asian beliefs spin new Web for India online, 26 June 2006, "Firms in India are now turning to the ancient philosophies of vaastu shastra and Chinese feng shui, used for centuries to bring balance and harmony between man and the environment, in a bid to boost their businesses through "balanced" Web pages."

BBC News, Spiritual challenge for gamers, 4 June 2006 refers to the Christian Game Developers Foundation. I guess some games are difficult to 'sanitize' whilst retaining their excitement, unless you play sports or driving games (like myself - although I'm hardly proficient.

AFP, Devil theories spread across Internet on '666', 6 June 2006, "Websites devoted to 666 were the reference point for rumours of meteors smashing into earth or of pregnant women trying to avoid giving birth to prevent their babies being born with the mark of the devil."

Reuters/Yahoo, UCLA Egyptologists launching online encyclopedia, 28 April 2006, "Frustrated with the poor quality of many Web sites dealing with ancient Egypt, a professor at the University of California has decided to create a massive online encyclopedia devoted solely to Egyptology."

MSNBC/WWRN, At the comics shop, religion goes graphic, 25 April 2006, refers to ComicBookReligion.com and also includes quotes from Greg Garrett, the author of Holy Superheroes! Exploring Faith & Spirituality in Comic Books - which sounds like an interesting volume.

USATODAY.com - Let my people download! Passover texts available online, 6 April 2006 "Online texts particularly attract young Jewish adults who no longer live near family or in a neighborhood where bound Haggada texts are free or easily purchased, says Roger Bennett of Reboot (www.rebooters.net), a creative network of Jews in publishing, music and film."

USATODAY.com - Long-lost gospel of Judas recasts 'traitor', 6 April 2006 this includes a link to the document at National Geographic, The Lost Gospel of Judas

ContractorUK, Man tries to sell his soul online, 8 April 2006, "According to Reuters, Taobao had no set terms and conditions for soul-selling but cancelled the auction, citing not enough proof the goods could be delivered.

"Porter Erisman, spokesman for Taobao's parent, Yahoo-backed Alibaba.com, told the news agency that they were not against the auctioneering of souls, in principle."

AP, 'Kosher' Phone Merges Technology, Faith, 31 Mar 06, "It sounds like the setup for a punch line: What do you get when you cross an ultra-Orthodox rabbi with a mobile phone? But the "kosher phone" is real and its developers are serious about looking beyond the religious enclaves of Israel. Some Arab companies even have inquired about the phone's main feature: keeping out sex lines and other worldly temptations."

USA Today/yahoo, Christian group backs off case against blog parody, 24 Mar 06 "A Christian group that promotes heterosexuality Thursday quietly dropped its beef against a blogger who poked fun at it."

South Park has been generating internet traffic recently with the controversy surrounding a 'Scientology Episode' [easy to locate via Google]. Details on the story here from the Guardian, Isaac Hayes quits South Park after it satirises Scientology, 15 Mar 06. Official Church of Scientology site here. Huffington Post 'discussion' here . Isaac Hayes' site here.

USATODAY.com - 'Godcasts' spread word on the Web, 16 Mar 06: "Increasingly, houses of worship and individuals are using the Internet to reach adherents and those outside their communities, in a trend sometimes called 'Godcasting.'"

A couple of items which caught my attention today: Mission Network News, Christians website are attracting many from the Muslim world, February 16, 2006 "While hard-line Muslim nations make accessing Christians websites difficult, it's not impossible and these websites are making an incredible impact for the kingdom.

"Strategic Resource Group (SRG) helps organizations reach out to the lost inside the 10/40 Window. SRG reports Christian websites are receiving nearly 9 million hits per month from the Middle East. One Christian organization hosting chat rooms for Arabic-speaking web users estimates that more than 42,000 people visit those sites daily."

Also this excellent article in today's Guardian, which has a small reference to the web: The Guardian, Everybody's kung fu fighting, February 16, 2006 "Like most of his generation, Shi has meditated a great deal on politics, business and technology. He is a part-time deputy in the National People's Assembly, where he says he was chosen as the first representative of the nation's Buddhists. He set up Shaolin's website, which was one of the first institutional homepages in the country when it went online in 1996. More recently, he has pushed the commercial, legal and public relations interests of the monastery."

Wall Street Journal/WWRN, Zoroastrians use Internet dating to rescue religion, 6 Feb 06, "To replenish their ranks, followers of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, who is thought to have lived about 3,500 years ago, are extolling not just the modern benefits of fertility clinics but also those of Internet dating.

"The high-technology push to connect and reproduce Parsis comes as education and work opportunities pull a younger generation into the global work force, delaying love, marriage and children. Like other ethnic groups, Parsis in India are trying to adapt to a changing world without changing too much themselves."