Religion on the Internet Essay -- Essays Papers

Religion on the Internet Religion can be a very controversial topic. There are so many different types of religion and different people who practice and believe in these religions. Some people don’t believe in any, some have their own, some have one, but don’t practice it, and some people even have multiple religions. Religion is not a topic you bring up while having a cup of coffee with some friends, unless you are all of the same religion. Usually discussing different religions it causes nothing but problems and arguments. There is even a country music song that is titled, "Politics, Religion, and Her." The singer goes on in the song to say how he never likes to discuss any of these three topics with anyone and how they only cause problems. When you type "Religion" into Net Search on the Internet, you find there are over 300,000 matches to that search. Obviously, religion is all over the internet. The World Wide Web allows people to get their opinions out to millions of Internet surfers. Some sites offer on-line help to religious practitioners with questions about their particular religion. Other sites are just plain fact giving information and explaining a particular type of religion. Then there are sites that try to lure you into joining their religion, and even some cults that are trying to gain new, vulnerable members. With the different ways that they present these sites, it is very easy to get caught up in them and possibly even join. The way they present them to the viewer doesn’t make them seem bad or not even close to being a cult. The sites on factual and on-line religion services don’t seem to be a problem, and I will discuss their presence on the web later on in this paper. I would now like to talk about the iss... ...le, web browsers, these cults are attracting more and more people. The internet is one of the largest growing industries right now, but it is also growing many trouble spots. The web has to create some sort of laws and rules about what’s allowed on the net. These cult sites must be monitored regularly, so as to make sure they are not endangering the welfare of the common web surfer. Works Cited The Appeal of the Cults, http://www.serve.com/larryi/appeal.htm, (24 March 1997). Creating a New View of God:, http://www.com!duke.den!conv.lynx.htm, (22 March 1997). Cult Recruiting Techniques, http://www.serve.com/larryi/recruit.htm, (24 March 1997). Cult-Think, http://www.alt.religion.scientology.htm, (22 March 1997). Lefevre, Greg, The Internet as a god and progaganda tool for cults, http://cnn.com/TECH/9703/27/techno.pagans/index.html, (24 March 1997).