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The Apostle Paul knew the human mind. He had a clear understanding
of the irresistible longing for answers, explanation, fellowship, for something
«greater» than the human existence that has put its mark on
the human race. In his address on Areopagus to the people in Athens, he
said:
"Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious."
(Acts 17:22,NIV)
Paul could have said exactly the same to men and women
of «cyberspace» or the Internet. For indeed, religion is present
in a plethora of expressions and forms in the virtual world of the Internet.
For those who want to research the basis of their faith to learn more about
their own or the beliefs of others, the Net is a fantastic resource for
education and documentation given a use of good, critical common sense in
the choice of sources. It also offers a multitude of forums for discussion
both within and across borders of faith, as well as opportunities for prayer,
reading sermons or different translations of the Bible--just to mention
a few of the possibilities. The human search for the meaning of life, spiritual
refreshment, for the true values of the soul are extremely visible in the
new virtual community called the Internet.
If we enter the Internet for a brief little surf on religion, we will surely
find several different faiths and fellowships of worship. Most probably,
you will come across some new ones which you have never heard of as well.
A good place to start is at the search engine «Yahoo» and its
listings of different religions under the category of «Society and Culture.
This Web-page gives an idea of what is «out there» in the virtual world. One can say that the list mirrors the multitude and variety of religious expressions in our world today. The Internet is in this context nothing but a mirror of the real world. Yet, it must be added, a confused and twisted mirror. The number of Muslims or Hindus in the real world are by no means correctly represented by the numbers on Yahoo. Even more obvious when one compares with Judaism which is very well represented on the Internet and the overwhelming majority of Christian presence on the Net.
There are certain issues worth commenting on in this brief overview, and
a few things to be added.
Firstly, the list
gives a good understanding of what a «marketplace» of religions
the Internet really is. It is a «surf and taste» mentality where
nothing is absolutely true. At the same time, there is a lot of «spiritual
guidance» and no real guidance at all.
Secondly, the number of «new» religions and ways of spirituality are impressive. New Age has many home pages on the Internet . If one counts these two related categories together, there are more New Age-related pages on the Internet than for example Hinduism and even Buddhism. It should also be noticed that the «New Age» in many ways represents an «Old Age» with a resurgence of old mysticism in a new disguise. The rise of pagan cults like the Nordic «Åsatru», Celticism and above all what is hidden behind the category «Paganism» gives a striking reminder of the need to encounter all kinds of religious expressions and spiritualities (as well as principalities and powers, Eph. 6:10 - 18).
The Internet is truly a modern battlefield for the human mind. The straight
forward and frank discussions in most of the electronic forums clearly indicate
that there is a certain openness among many «Netizens» for new
ideas, new values in life. This openness may well be connected with the
excitement of new technology and willingness to explore new inventions and
to challenge the boundaries of the human mind. An openness reflected in
the variety of religious expressions on the Internet, but should also serve
as an important reminder and challenge for Christians to enter into dialogue
when we meet in a new forum --the virtual world.
Thirdly, the Internet offers several «cults»
or «sects» like Satanism and Scientology where one from a Christian
point of view strongly needs to caution other surfers on the Net from getting
involved. The tragic event in San Diego March 26, 1997 when 39 people was
found dead in an apparent mass suicide may also serve as an illustration.
The group was connected to the Higher Source Contract Enterprises and had
also actively used the Internet to recruit followers. Two experts on cult
issues, Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, highlights the fundamental questions:
"This cult was savvy enough to realize that the Internet
was THE way to spread the Gospel according to Heaven's Gate they spammed
newsgroups, made their living designing Web pages, and produced a "Bible"
site to house their beliefs. The question is not, "Did the Web create
this cult?" but rather "How Are Cults Using Information Technology
and the Web to Reach a Global Audience?"1
The group did recruit people from the Internet, although there did not seem
to be much public interest. They were also ridiculed by other participants
in the actual usergroups. However, it may well serve as an illustration
for the actual potential for worldwide recruitment of supporters that the
Internet can provide.
Fourthly, the almost unlimited freedom on the Internet fosters
a culture where new, private «religions» can be promoted and
attract supporters. Under the category «Cyberculture Religions,» one can find an unbelievable
[sic] collection of new initiatives.
By no means should these or other virtual expressions of human religiosity be taken too seriously. Still, they may serve as an illustration for the truth in the words from the Apostle Paul spoken at Areopagus 2000 years ago.
However, all these expressions of old and new beliefs inevitably leads toward
the conclusion that a kind of religious transformation is taking place.
Also Stephen D. O’Leary affirms that «something revolutionary
is taking place.» 2
He does so after having researched the transformation that
took place during the reformation and having looked into the religious practices
of pagan and occult practices on the Compuserve Religion Forum. «If
current trends hold, computer and computer networks will play an increasingly
significant role in the religions of the future», says O’Leary,
and concludes:
"It does not seem to far-fetched to think of cyber-communication as
coming to play a major role in the spiritual sustenance of postmodern humans.
The possibilities are endless. Online confessions? Eucharistic rituals,
more weddings, seders, witches» sabbats? There will be many such experiments."
3
In the book «God on the Internet» Mark A. Kellner gives an interesting ranking list of the «Top Ten Religious Web Sites» in his opinion. 4
His list is a good starting point for those who wants to get an overview of available resources for a variety of religions. Basically all such lists will, as Kellner points out, be subjective and the best list is always the one you design yourself for your own purposes.
A brief search for key words on the Internet confirms the dominance of Christianity on the Net. If we used the search engine «HotBot» (www.hotbot.com) to look up how many times the word «Christianity» appears on the Internet, the answer was 70,270 times on a given day in November 1996. Similarly, the word «Islam» has 57,467 hits, while «Buddhism» is found in 26,845 documents and «Hinduism» in 12,078 documents. Of course, some of these documents could be written by Christians on the issue of Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism, and do not give a correct indication of how many documents there are on the Internet written by, for example, a Hindu on Hinduism.
Yet another small indication can be found when we search for the name «Muhammad.»
The prophet's name appears in 21,962 documents while «Jesus»
is mentioned in 215,116 documents. Again, the same reservation as mentioned
above applies on this search too, as well as the fact that people today
bears the name of «Muhammad» (as for example Muhammad Ali, the
boxing champion!) and Jesus.
Both of these very «unscientific» searches on the Internet point
toward an important conclusion, as did the listing of Yahoo. There is a
clear domination of Christian presence through churches, ministries and
resources, etc. on the Internet, which by far outnumber other religions
and cults. However, behind the number of 6,757 Web-sites listed under the
«Christianity» title on Yahoo, one can find Mormons and Jehovas
Witnesses together with all other Christian denominations. Still, the traditional
Christian denominations are the overwhelming majority under this category.
And it is growing fast, maybe as fast as the rest of the Internet.
A church Web site may be everything from just a one-page announcement of where and when the church services take place, offering an opportunity to contact the pastor, to well-designed sites with many sub-pages covering all kinds of church-related activities flavored with pictures, audio messages, and so on. After a few hundred hours of surfing the worldwide Net, visiting far more than a thousand church-pages, the conclusion is that many pages in Europe and Asia were not listed in any of the US-based databases. Part of the research was also to search for the word «church» in other languages and that too revealed several churches not appearing in any of the major listings.
Endnotes:
1 Source: http://www5.zdnet.com/yil/higher/cultcol1.html;
Internet. Last June, the group spammed numerous Usenet groups that discuss
conspiracies, culture, aliens, religions using an account at BLUESKY.NET.
When the spam was discovered and canceled, another round commenced, from
a user called REP@HEAVENSGATE.COM. Here is
what was sent both times, taken from the group's site:
HEAVEN'S GATE
- How and When the door to the Physical
Kingdom Level Above Human May Be Entered
- Organized Religions Are Killers of Souls
- UFO's & Space Aliens - Sorting Good from Bad
- Final Warning for Possible Survivors
www.heavensgate.com
2 Stephen D. O'Leary, "Cyberspace as Sacred Space: Communicating Religion
on Computer Networks." in Journal of the American Academy of Religion,
64 (4) 1996, 783.
3 Ibid., 805.
4 Mark A. Kellner, God on the Internet, (Foster City,
CA: IDG Books Worldwide,
Inc., 1996). The list according to Kellner is:
1. Facets of Religion http://marvin.biologie.uni-freiburg.de/~amueller/religion/
Offers a
wide range of links to other religious sites all over the world.
2. Fides Quarens Internetum http://apu.edu:80/~bstone/theology/theology.html
A site
aimed at theologians.
3. The Judea Web World http://www.nauticom.net/users/rafie/judaica-world.html
For
everyone interested in Judaism.
4. Adventist Information Ministry http://www.andrews.edu/homes/Staff/aim/shared/
www.aim.org/index.html For everyone interested in the Adventist denomination.
5. The Jerusalem Mosaic http://www1.huji.ac.il/jeru/jerusalem.html Not
a particularly
religious Web site, yet impossible to separate from its spiritual history.
6. The Taizé Community http://www.almac.couk/taize/taize.html The
monastic Taizé community in France has attracted thousands of Christians
from all over Europe.
7. Jews for Jesus http://www.jews-for-jesus.org/ For everyone interested
in the Messianic movement.
8. Soka Gakkai http://www.sgi-usa.org/ A site presenting the Japanese
Soka Gakkai flavor of Buddhism.
9. Global Hindu Electronic Network http://rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu:8080/
hindu_universe.html For everyone interested in Hindu belief and practice.
10. CyberMuslim http://www.uoknor.edu/cybermuslim/ For everyone interested
in Islam.