items of interest

with contributions from Chris McGillion, Jude Ubaka, Edward T. Creagan, Jordan Stoll

"According to a major new survey on Internet use in the United States, more than a third of all Americans who are connected to the Web (in total 126 million people as of August 2003) have used it to access religious and spiritual information. This compares with 40 percent of American Internet users who have searched the Web for political information, and 66 percent who have sought health and medical data. But while the number of people using the Web for these last two purposes increased 57 percent and 59 percent respectively between March 2000 and November 2002, what the researchers call 'religion surfers' almost doubled in number over the same period, from 18 million to 35 million (or an increase of 94 percent). Moreover, there has been a significant increase in the daily use of the Internet to access religious information. While the overall numbers remain low, they nevertheless did climb from 3 million in 2000 to 5 million in 2002, an increase of 66 percent. The survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center of Washington, D.C., and the report of its findings was released just before Christmas.... What people make of the religious information they access on the Web untutored and unministered to, at least in the conventional sense, is anyone's guess. God may indeed work in mysterious ways."

Chris McGillion
"Click and ye shall be saved: More find their Gods in cyberspace"
The Sydney Morning Herald
January 6, 2004

"President Olusegun Obasanjo attended the Holy Ghost Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and used the occasion to espouse his vision for the country.... The congress was an occasion for upliftment and God's intervention in the country and in the lives of the people of Nigeria. President Olusegun Obasanjo enthusiastically stormed the RCCG annual Holy Ghost Congress ... and specifically requested the Holy Ghost to take over the affairs of the nation.... Speaking on the success of his administration, Obasanjo explained that the success achieved so far by his administration is due to prayer. 'The success of this present administration is due to the prayers of the faithful, and I want to continue to count on your prayers, because we still have a long way to go in reforming Nigeria.' "

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