It always amazes me—and yet is still somehow blatantly obvious—when the current information technology revolution we are living through infiltrates another niche of society and begins changing how people behave and interact. The increasing fluidity of information and interaction— from myspace.com and match.com to pod casting and cell phone cameras—is altering how we communicate and represent ourselves.
So I shouldn’t be surprised when God finally gets around to getting on the information superhighway.
But churches are using more than just websites. Satellite broadcasting. Sermons, songs, and scripture on pod casts. Even electronic fund transfers so that the faithful can tithe while balancing their checkbook on their laptop in a local café. (check here for the story)
Technology is inching its way into every aspect of our lives. Some religious authorities see this as just another mechanism for reaching out to the faithful in an ever busier workaday world. One reverend notes:
"Technology's a wonderful thing. It helps us to communicate better. It helps us in all different facets of life. And why not use technology to help people experience spirituality in different ways as well?"
Why not? Not being particularly spiritual myself, I can’t really say one way or another where this is going or if it should go there. It certainly opens up big questions about whether the form of technology and media can affect content. If people stop going to church and begin downloading Sunday services, isn’t their something lost?
For me, one of the only things to recommend religion to begin with was the sense of social cohesion it offered. People getting together in loving fellowship and that sort of thing? Singing, praying, believing, but together in a group. If faith becomes just another bookmark or iTune, isn’t something missing. The awesome power of the lord made manifest to you on your iPod while taking the metro home?
Not to encourage the techno-luddites, but as technology increasingly atomizes the rest of society, you would think the traditionalists and believers would try to hold back the tide
