| NEW YORK — The link between spirituality and the Internet among Americans is no fluke, a recent survey indicates.
Some 82 million Americans — nearly two-thirds of the 128 million “on-line” users in the United States — are now using the Internet for religious, faith or spiritual reasons, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has concluded.
The report suggests that the Internet is having an impact on U.S. religious and spiritual life, said the authors of the study, entitled “Faith Online.”
However, while spiritual “seekers” are using the Internet — many with questions about other religious traditions — the study also said that faith-based usage remains rooted in well-known religious traditions. The survey found, for example, that two-thirds of those who attend religious services weekly also use the Internet for personal religious or spiritual purposes.
“The survey provides clear evidence that the majority of the online faithful are there for personal spiritual reasons, including seeking outside their own traditions,” said Stewart Hoover, a professor at the University of Colorado and the lead author of the report.
But, Hoover noted, users “are also deeply grounded in those traditions, and this Internet activity supplements their ties to traditional institutions, rather than moving them away from church.”
The survey found that 28 per cent of the “online faithful,” as the study calls them, used the Internet to seek or exchange information about their own religious faith or tradition with others. Meanwhile, 26 per cent said they used the Internet to seek or exchange information about religious faiths or traditions other than their own.
“The online faithful are quite serious about their spiritual journeys, and they are committed to those in their social networks who accompany them on those journeys,” said Lynn Schofield Clark, also of the University of Colorado and a co-author of the report. “Most of the online faithful describe themselves as spiritual and religious and that is a perfect characterization of their use of the Internet. They probe for information and network with others in order to enrich their spiritual lives.”
Other survey findings:
- 38 per cent of US Internet users have sent or received email with spiritual content.
- 35 per cent have sent or received online greeting religious holiday cards.
- 32 per cent have used the Internet to read news about religious affairs or events.
- 21 per cent have sought information about how to celebrate religious holidays.
- 17 per cent have searched for information about where they could attend religious services.
The study said the profiles of those using the Internet for religious or spiritual purposes are more likely to be white, middle-aged women who are college-educated.
The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a non-profit, non-partisan research center, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to examine the social impact of the Internet. The report is available at: www.pewinternet.org/reports.
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