Saturday, April 19, 2003
People are finding religion on the Internet
United Kingdom
More Britons are defining their spiritual journey online, with traffic to UK religion sites up over 150 per cent since this time last year, according to market analysts Hitwise. In contrast to the European Values Study recently published in the Economist which states that less than 15 per cent of Britain’s population physically go to church at least once a month, it seems that online religion is quickly becoming the new way for people to get in touch with their spirituality. Hitwise statistics reveal that the average session duration for religion sites is 5 minutes and 37 seconds, increasing from 5 minutes and 23 seconds in March 2002. And with only 22 per cent of traffic to religion sites directed at domestic services, Britons do appear to be looking for answers overseas, signifying the fact that religion and spiritualism have indeed moved beyond the local parish.
Australia
More than 80 per cent of seekers of spiritual guidance on the Internet visit overseas sites, including the popular Gospel Communications Network and Belief Net. "Young people are using the Internet to define their spiritual journey and beliefs without setting foot in a church," said Hitwise senior vice-president Tessa Court. Ms Court said almost a third of visitors to Australian religion sites were aged 25 to 34. World unrest has also prompted many more people to seek out websites promoting human rights.
New Zealand
New Zealanders are turning to God... but they're doing it on the Internet. Internet intelligence company Hitwise says there has been a jump in the number of kiwis setting off on their spiritual journeys along the information super-highway. Hitwise spokeswoman Tessa Court says young people are using the Internet to define their spiritual journey and beliefs without having to set foot in a church. She says it's little wonder that congregations are aging and attendances at church services are down. And it seems the Christian tradition of involvement in social issues continues on the web - last week a massive 8.8% of visitors to The Churches Agency on Social Issues left with the intention of returning by adding this site to their "favorites" list
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