Religion and The Internet - Christianity

Christianity

There have been a number of attempts to create online Christian communities, usually supplementing, but occasionally attempting to replace, more traditional, brick and mortar Christian communities. It is common for even moderate sized Christian churches with only a few hundred members to have web sites to advertise themselves and communicate with their congregations. For example, Scott Thumma, a faculty associate at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research found that in the U.S. between 1998 and 2002, the ratio of churches with web sites went from 11% to 45%. Most sites concentrate on teaching and discussion. Some experiment with virtual meetings in cyberspace, and attempt to incorporate teaching, prayer, worship and even music into the experience. The i-church is the first Internet community to be fully recognised as an Anglican church. Its look and feel are similar to a discussion room. Church of Fools is an experimental online site in which worshippers move around a virtual church building using avatars.

After being reassigned to the sinecure diocese of Partenia (a major Algerian city, that was consumed by the Sahara in the 5th century) by Pope John Paul II in 1995 as punishment for his heretical views, Roman Catholic Bishop Jacques Gaillot set up a website for the "diocese without borders."

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