Quarter of adults on Internet are ‘religion surfers’

One in four adults who surf the Internet is looking for religious and spiritual material, according to a new survey released Dec. 23 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
   
The telephone poll of 500 Internet users found more people seeking spirituality on the Web than a year ago — 28 million, up from 20 million last year.
   
These so-called “religion surfers” are more likely to use the Web for expanding their religious horizons than they are to visit sites for online gambling, auctions, stock trading or banking, the survey found.
   
Elena Larsen, the report’s author and a Pew research fellow, said the Web — with its wide array of reference and educational material — is an inviting place for religious minorities, new converts and people who might be shy meeting others face-to-face.
   
“The Internet fills many niches for religious people,” Larsen said.
   
The vast majority of religion surfers — 84 percent — already belong to a church and are more involved in regular worship than the general population.
   
Sixty-nine percent said they were looking for reference materials to enhance their own religious knowledge, and 23 percent of Web surfers said they accessed the Web to find information about Islam.
   
The poll was conducted before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when Islam gained new prominence.
Only 27 percent said surfing the Web had improved their personal spiritual lives, and 53 percent saw a danger that the Web could provide a forum for dangerous religious fringe groups.
   
The telephone survey of 500 Internet users has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. (RNS)