In September 2009, two Gordon College professors published research on how students at evangelical colleges use social networking and its impact on them. The study is called “Pulling Off the Mask: The Impact of Social Networking Activities on Evangelical Christian College Students,” and the two researchers, Bryan Auday, professor of psychology, and Sybil Coleman, professor […]

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued guidelines for the use of social networks among Catholics.

Read the text of Pope Benedict’s message for the 45th annual World Communications Day, titled “Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity of Life in the Digital Age.” The Pope said new media and social networks offered “a great opportunity,” but he warned of the risks of having more virtual friends than real ones, saying that “it is always important […]

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.

Read a Feb. 27, 2011 story from the San Jose Mercury News, which covers Silicon Valley, about the increasing number of religious apps available to iPhone users.

Emily D. Edwards is an associate professor of broadcasting and cinema at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is the author of Metaphysical Media: The Occult Experience in Popular Culture (Southern Illinois University Press, 2005), which looks at how movies and television portray supernatural beliefs and the influence of the occult on popular art.

Wendy Martin is a professor in the department of classics and religious studies at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario. In 2004, she presented a paper on how television shows depicting the supernatural influence people’s belief systems.

Flagg Miller is a religious studies professor at the University of California, Davis, who can talk about bin Laden’s influence among a diverse range of Islamic militant movements. Miller is writing a book, Becoming Bin Laden, that investigates the contents of the al-Qaeda leader’s own audiotape library, a collection of more than 1,500 tapes.

Read an Nov. 4, 2011 Huffington Post article drawing a comparison between the smartphone app Angry Birds and religious lessons.