It is the first time such a Mass has been celebrated.

The Society of Catholic Scientists is a recently formed group of American Catholic scientists as well as undergraduate, graduate or postdoctoral students pursuing research in a natural science.

The society says it exists to "witness to the harmony between the vocation of scientist and the life of faith." Read more

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, we get a possible answer thanks to the work of Allen Downey, a computer scientist at the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, who has analyzed the data in detail.

He says that the demise is the result of several factors but the most controversial of these is the rise of the Internet.

He concludes that the increase in Internet use in the last two decades has caused a significant drop in religious affiliation.

Downey's data comes from the General Social Survey, a widely respected sociological survey carried out by the University of Chicago, that has regularly measure people's attitudes and demographics since 1972.

In that time, the General Social Survey has asked people questions such as: "what is your religious preference?" and "in what religion were you raised?"

It also collects data on each respondent's age, level of education, socioeconomic group, and so on. And in the Internet era, it has asked how long each person spends online. The total data set that Downey used consists of responses from almost 9,000 people. Continue reading.

Source: MIT Technology Review

Image: theamericanjesus.net

In his opinion piece, Simon Jenkins suggests that we have mistaken electronic connection for genuine conversation. "Talk is reduced to the muttered, heads-down expletives brilliantly satirised in the BBC's Twenty Twelve," he says, "which psychologists have identified ... as 'fear of conversation'. People wear headphones as 'conversational avoidance devices'." While the internet connects us to the whole world, it is not the real world. When every fact can be checked on Google, "doubt and debate become trivial. There is no time for the thesis, antithesis, synthesis of Socratic dialogue, the skeleton of true conversation".

He offers some practical suggestions about how to start a conversation as well as a list of conversation killers.

• Read Jenkins' article
• Image: Prade Films

Simon Jenkins is a journalist and author. He writes for the Guardian as well as broadcasting for the BBC.