Read a column by Henry G. Brinton, pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Virginia, about social networking’s effect on religion. The column appeared June 20, 2010, in USA Today.

Church Multiplication Associates is a nondenominational organization that promotes the “voluntary association of a multiplicity of expanding networks” They held their first Organic Church Movement Conference in Long Beach, Calif., in January 2007.

Read “Why I lead an online synagogue,” an Oct. 4, 2010, column at CNN.com’s Belief Blog by Rabbi Laura Baum, head of OurJewishCommunity.org.

Read a Jan. 21, 2011, news release from LifeWay Research about Protestant congregations using Facebook and other social networking tools. Nearly half of Protestant churches use Facebook, while 40 percent do not use any social networking tools. However, the trend seems to be toward greater adoption of social networking tools.

When is it appropriate to use the words “fundamentalist” and “cult?” What are other terms with which I must be careful? By Don Lattin The San Francisco Chronicle* CULT is a word that should be used with care. Some of its dictionary definitions are value neutral, with such meanings as “formal religious veneration,” such as […]

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a Christian denomination composed of nearly 10,000 congregations and about 4 million members.

Milagros Peña teaches sociology and directs women’s studies at the University of Florida, Gainesville. Her expertise includes women’s issues, border issues and Hispanic ministry in the United States. Her books include, as co-author, Emerging Voices, Urgent Choices: Essays on Latino/a Religious Leadership (Brill Academic Publishers, 2006).

The Rev. Gary Riebe-Estrella is a Catholic priest and dean emeritus at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Ill. He can discuss education and placement of clergy, congregational issues, U.S. Latino Catholics, and Mexican popular religion. He co-edited Horizons of the Sacred: Mexican Traditions in U.S. Catholicism (2002).

Benjamin Valentin teaches theology and culture at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Mass., where he directs Latino/a studies. He co-chairs the AAR Latina/o Religion, Culture and Society Group. His expertise includes the intersection between Latinos and African-Americans, liberation theology and Hispanic theology. Valentin authored Mapping Public Theology: Beyond Culture, Identity and Difference (Trinity Press International, 2002); […]