Religion on the Web

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13 Stories

July 2008
- World's Oldest Bible Makes Web Debut Thursday
  
  Deutsche Welle (Germany) | Jul 21, 08 5:17 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The world's oldest nearly intact Bible—a fourth-century manuscript written in ancient Greek—will be published online later this week, Deutsche Welle reports. The Codex Sinaiticus, rediscovered in a Sinai Peninsula monastery in 1844, contains half the Jewish Old Testamant and most of the Christian New Testament. The University of Leipzig teamed up with the British Library to compile the version to hit the Web on Thursday. More »
- Pope to Launch Bible Marathon for TV, Internet
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jul 9, 08 10:12 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI may not have the media cache of his predecessor, but he's working on it. The pontiff will kick off a six-day Bible-reading marathon that will be broadcast live on Italian television and the Internet this fall. The Guardian reports the pope will read aloud the first chapter of Genesis, then be followed by about 1,200 volunteers who will continue reading 'round the clock through Revelation. More »
June 2008
- Deepak Chopra: 'Catch God With His Pants Down'
  
  Newsweek | Jun 18, 08 2:24 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Real-life new-age guru Deepak Chopra is a big fan of Mike Myers' movie, The Love Guru, and writes that laughing at God is exactly what we need right about now. "More comedies should cross the line between vulgar lampoon and reckless disrespect. Let's catch God with his pants down—or more especially those who peddle faith in God so self-righteously," Chopra writes. More »
- Site Will Email Buddies After You Depart in Rapture
  
  ABC News | Jun 10, 08 3:58 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A new website will email godless friends and family left behind after you’ve been taken to heaven in the Rapture. For $40 per year, Youvebeenleftbehind.com will store any emails and documents for you, ABC reports—then send them about six days after the Lord hath taken away. The server will know the time has come when its employees don’t log on. More »
April 2008
- Plagiarist Priests May Face Jail Time in Poland
  
  Guardian (UK) | Apr 26, 08 5:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - If Polish priests don’t stop their plagiarizing ways, they could be slapped with a fine or even thrown in jail for 3 years, church authorities warn. Uninspired priests have been swiping their homilies off the Internet, and “unfortunately the practice has become more usual than not,” said Father Wieslaw Przyczyna, who opposes the “unethical” pilfering. More »
March 2008
- Evangelicals Turn Back to Ritual
  
  Washington Post | Mar 8, 08 12:51 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Evangelical Christians are increasingly turning to long-shunned traditions as a means of practicing their faith, reports the Washington Post . In a trend some call “worship renewal,” some are reviving Catholic customs such as fasting for Lent, going to confession, and weekly communion. “Evangelicalism is coming to point where the early church has become the newest staple of its diet,” says a theology professor. More »
January 2008
- Saudis Holding Blogger Critical of Government
  
  New York Times | Jan 2, 08 1:50 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Saudi Arabian government has confirmed that it is holding a prominent blogger for questioning, the New York Times reports today. Fouad al-Farhan, who discussed social issues as one of the few Saudis to blog in Arabic under his real name, was arrested Dec. 10 to be interrogated about “specific violations of nonsecurity laws” according to an Interior Ministry spokesman. More »
December 2007
- Pilgrims Use Wi-Fi at Hajj for First Time
  
  Wi-Fi Planet | Dec 22, 07 3:06 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Muslim pilgrims had free access to Wi-Fi for the first time during the Hajj, which ended yesterday in Saudi Arabia. The short-term service, provided by two telecom firms, had 70 access points around holy sites and took only two months to assemble. Pilgrims say that online access helped them seek guidance without tracking down busy muftis, or legal experts, for information on Hajj rites, Wi-Fi Planet reports. More »
- Germany to Try Scientology Ban
  
  Der Spiegel | Dec 7, 07 10:22 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - German ministers accused Scientology of being unconstitutional today and took steps to ban it from the country, Der Spiegel reports. They ordered spies to assemble a dossier on the group, based on 10 years of surveillance, to support the ban. Scientologists were outraged, and called themselves victims of "on-going and never-ending discrimination," the BBC reports. More »
- News Corp Gets That New-Time Religion
  
  Wall Street Journal | Dec 5, 07 9:17 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has inked an eight-figure deal to buy Beliefnet, the US' most popular religion website, as a platform to promote the company's religious books and programming, the Wall Street Journal reports. Details of the transaction weren't released, but the site will become a part of News Corp's film and television division, Fox Entertainment Group, rather than the interactive media division. More »
October 2007
- Thy Kingdom.Com: GodTube A Social Spot For Believers
  
  Hartford Courant (Conn.) | Oct 25, 07
  
  [GodTube] officially launched just a few months ago, and the site just added a social network component, and is set to launch original broadcasting in the next few weeks, said originator Chris Wyatt, a former CBS television producer, and Dallas Theological Seminary student.
- Jesus 2.0: GodTube Is a Smash With Believers
  
  Los Angeles Times | Oct 21, 07 8:12 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - GodTube, one of the fastest-growing sites on the web, is drawing masses of the Christian faithful to its user-generated videos, social-networking tools and the "GodCaster," which offers live video presentations. It's not a church, the LA Times reports, but a for-profit business backed by a "who's who" of ministries, megachurches and Christian retailers. More »
June 2007
- Conservative Takes on Wikipedia
  
  Los Angeles Times | Jun 19, 07 7:30 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Unhappy with what he perceives as Wikipedia's liberal bias, a conservative lawyer has launched Conservapedia.com, a religious-right-friendly answer to the online encyclopedia. Conservapedia has some 12,000 entries (to Wikipedia's 1.8 million in English) and several thousand readers and volunteer writers. It includes multiple Bible verses, psychoanalyzes Hillary Clinton, and equates "femininity" with being "childlike, gentle, pretty, willowy, submissive." More »