The remarkable thing about Francis is not that he’s fundamentally changing the theology of the Church, nor that he’s carving out a space for the pope as a heavyweight in the economics public sphere. It’s that he’s consistently able to match the themes that animate his spirituality and faith with issues that people around the Read more
Back in 1990, about 8 percent of the U.S. population had no religious preference. By 2010, this percentage had more than doubled to 18 percent. That’s a difference of about 25 million people, all of whom have somehow lost their religion. That raises an obvious question: how come? Why are Americans losing their faith? Today, Read more
You don’t necessarily need to go to mass to receive the teachings and wisdom of your local pastor, thanks to modern media. In the USA, more than a dozen Tallahassee churches are making use of podcasts of their sermons and lectures to get beyond the pew, and the congregations are responding. continue reading
Pope Francis is the most talked about name of 2013, and his twitter handle @Pontifex ranks in the top-five “top words” on the Web. The results are revealed in a study conducted by the Global Language Monitor’s 14th annual global survey of the English language. The Texas-based group determines the top terms, words, phrases, and names Read more
The Vatican has secured the use of the new Internet domain name “.catholic,” but bloggers hoping that platform could ramp up their own digital pulpit will be disappointed—the Holy See says it’ll be reserved for church-related organizations, not individuals. Individuals—whether religious bloggers or a cleric—will not have access to .catholic, according to Monsignor Paul Tighe, Read more
Social Media, create a new environment and a new life style that not only requires Church presence and “use” of mass media, but “witnessing” of the Gospel in the new environment where people live. The Catholic Bishops of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands tackled the issue of new media and social networks on the Read more
Parents should address concerns about their children’s online activity “early and without fear” – says an internet safety expert who was a speaker at NetSafe’s conference “Our community: Our challenge” which took place in Wellington this week. However, it is important for parents “not to overreact, to try to calm down a little bit, and Read more
Companies are usually accountable to no one but their shareholders. Internet companies are a different breed. Because they traffic in speech — rather than, say, corn syrup or warplanes — they make decisions every day about what kind of expression is allowed where. And occasionally they come under pressure to explain how they decide, on Read more
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is attempting to block a Vatican bid to create new web addresses ending in .catholic, arguing that the Church “cannot demonstrate that it possesses a monopoly over the term ‘Catholic’ ”. The objection is one of more than 160 sent by the Saudis to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names Read more
Religious groups have long vied for prime parcels of land, planting churches on town squares and monasteries amid remote mountains. But now they’re targeting real estate in a less tangible sphere: cyberspace. For the first time in its history, the international nonprofit that doles out generic Internet domain names such as “.com” and “.edu” will Read more