Religious Activity on the Net

• More People Use Christian Media Than Attend Church

The Internet is the only mass medium … whose audience share has grown during the past decade. The proportion of the population using the Internet for faith purposes has increased by two-thirds since 1998.

-- Barna Research, March 14, 2005

The following comes from Faith Online: Pew Internet & American Life project published April 7th, 2004 (http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Faith_Online_2004.pdf)

• The United States has approximately 128 million Internet users
• 64% of the nation’s 128 million Internet users have done things online that relate to religious or spiritual matters.
• Nearly two-thirds of the adults who use the Internet in the United States have used the Internet for faith-related matters. That represents nearly 82 million Americans.

Among the most popular and important spiritually related online activities:

• 38% of the 128 million Internet users have sent and received email with spiritual content.
• 35% have sent or received online greeting cards related to religious holidays.
• 32% have gone online to read news accounts of religious events and affairs.
• 21% have sought information about how to celebrate religious holidays.
• 17% have looked for information about where they could attend religious services.
• Some 28% of the online faithful said they had used the Internet to seek or exchange information about their own religious faith or tradition with others
• 26% said they had used the Internet to seek or exchange information about the religious faiths or traditions of others
• Most said they do it out of curiosity