More teens use Internet for religion, not porn

United States teens say they are three times as likely to use the Internet for religious purposes as for pornography, a new study shows.
   
The National Study of Youth and Religion found that 17 percent of the 2,600 teens surveyed use the Internet a few times a month or more frequently to link to religious Web sites while 5 percent use the Internet to connect to pornographic sites.
   
Teens used the Internet most for homework, with 77 percent saying they used it for this purpose a few times a month or more frequently.
   
The survey, released Dec. 10, looked at teens ages 13 to 17 with access to the Internet.
   
Researchers found a connection between teens who identified themselves as religious and their use of faith-related Web sites.
   
Forty percent of teens who say faith is extremely important to them said they visited religious sites a few times each month or more. Another 20 percent who say faith is very important to them said they visit such sites at the same rate. In comparison, 4 percent of those who say faith is not very important to them visited such sites at the same rate.
   
Researchers also found that teens who say they have a low interest in religion are far more likely than their religious counterparts to use the Internet to access pornography.
   
Fourteen percent of those who said faith is not important to them at all said they use the Internet to view pornographic Web sites a few times a month or more often.
   
That compares to 3 percent of teens who say faith is very important or extremely important to them, as well as 3 percent of those who regularly attend services. (RNS)