The Jewish Virtual Library is an online Jewish encyclopedia with 13,000 articles and 6,000 photographs on topics ranging from anti-Semitism to Zionism as well as statistics on numerous aspects of Jewish life.

Beliefnet, a multifaith religion website and online community, maintains a section on Judaism that includes news articles, essays, blogs, how-to’s, discussions and reviews.

In his message for the Catholic Church’s World Communications Day of 2009, Pope Benedict XVI also cautioned that if “virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence, and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development.”

Read an April 14, 2009, story at CNN.com about studies warning that rapid-fire news and constant updating via social networking tools such as Twitter “could numb our sense of morality and make us indifferent to human suffering.”

David Greenberg is an associate professor of history, journalism and media studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Read an Oct 10, 2009, Houston Chronicle article about pastors encouraging their congregations to tweet during sermons.

Read a January 2010 column on tweeting at SpiritualityandPractice.com, titled “25 Reasons Why Twitter Is Spiritual.”

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.

Ronald Pagnucco is an associate professor of peace studies at College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. His research interests include the connection between religion, politics and peace.