The Internet's Effect on your Beliefs in God and Religion

[b_justb]

I think the internet is responsible for spreading lies about other religions - the seemingly endless islamophobia. Makes me wonder who funds these sites and is there a link to the war on terror?

I think we should be more fair in our statements than this and we should be far more critical in our thinking.

The internet is a road. It is not the road’s fault that people speed, or go too slow, or drink and drive. That’s the problem of the people using the road. The road is merely a tool, a thing, it does not do anything good or ill.

Now let’s move over to the tin foil hat section of the room. Good thing there’s a blue light special on them so we can all afford one. There might be a link between the war on terror and the funding of internet sites that spread misinformation on Islam?

Pardon me while I pee my pants laughing http://www.coolsmilies.net/happy/rofl2.gif

 

[fatma]

put on a nappy then

 

[Jerusha]

I got on the internet for therapy. I have experienced intense abuse from Mormons who hated me because of my ancestry. Free speech was not appreciated in the town where I “hit bottom”. By the time I was told why I had had so many negative experiences in my life, I was a basket case. I was told I had to reconcile three belief systems (Native American, Catholic, and Mormon) in order to be free from further abuse and have a closer relationship with God. It has been a struggle, and without the internet would have been impossible.

I can now spot people with “Mormon personality disorder” before they adversely affect me. I see now that part of the problem is that some people who claim to be Catholic have those personality characteristics, and that such thinking is contagious. :coffeeread: I have moved to an area of the country where Mormon influence is much weaker, and I can connect with people with Native ancestry much easier. I often attend daily Mass, and get a lot out of it, something I rarely did before working through those problems. I am not totally healed, but have come a long way.:grouphug:

I know that racism and judgmental attitudes are not of God. Today I know that the Native perspective and Catholicism purify each other, and are not incompatible. Although some may call me heterodox, I am happy being me.

 

[LutheranStudent]

The internet has brought me to a greater understanding of the Catholic faith for sure; it’s not really as simple as presented. The (relatively) unfortunate thing is that I’ve now swung the other direction: I now believe, and this is my honest perception, that the Roman Catholic faith is so convoluted and so full of different authorities and procedures that virtually anything goes - so long as nobody steps on the feet of the Pope. Yet I have been very***, very*** happy to find that most Catholics have a better understanding of grace than I once thought.

Forums like this have sent me reeling in anger, bounding in joy, or torn me apart in my convictions. But whatever happened always sent me back to that blessed book, and in the end what bad can come of that?

 

[THutch04]

Probably the biggest thing the Internet has done is made me see beyond my experiences. Until I started using the Internet for religious information, I never realized that it was so difficult in some areas to practice a certain religion. Where I’m from, and where I am now, there is literally every religion represented, it’s easy to find a place to worship, and most likely nobody will be critical of you. I didn’t realize that there are some churches who share a priest with three other parishes, that there are some parishes which have to use the basement of non-Catholic churches, or that if someone is displeased with their parish that they couldn’t just attend another one because the next closest one is 30 miles away. I also never knew that there was still so much prejudice towards Catholics. Growing up I was never taught that that behavior was acceptable, and some of what I read on this forum is almost hard to believe because I’ve never seen that as part of my experience. It’s certainly made me realize how hard it is for some people to be devout Catholics.

 

[exoflare]

I think the internet is responsible for spreading lies about other religions - the seemingly endless islamophobia. Makes me wonder who funds these sites and is there a link to the war on terror?

hahaha

 

[Zooey]

Interesting question…
Well, I have certainly “talked” more with people of other faiths than my own, more than I would ever have a chance to, living in the town I grew up in. In the process, I have, I believe, been able to make many good friends, and more than one [foe–*not the word I want, but the best I can think of].
In the process, I have clarified my own Christian faith. Not just Methodism; deeper than that, I have been able to see what I hold in common with all Christians, how I disagree (sometimes radically) with some Christians, and why it was that, after a half a lifetime of fighting it,( because being Methodist didn’t seem “exotic enough”), that I ended up back in the church that was my grandmother’s before she ever met my grandfather.

Something that Publisher said resonated with me: “learning to talk Catholic”. One of my discoveries has been that sometimes we in different traditions use the same word to mean different things, and different words to mean the same thing. [A **lot can get lost in the translation]. We do need to learn to speak each other’s language…not just assume that someone means the same thing as we would, using that turn of phrase.
And with all respect to our non-Christian posters, this has brought a new appreciation of the faith that all of us Christians share. (Even when we’re:wink: throwing things at each other).

 

[isaac.madsen]

How has the Internet effected your beliefs in the current Religions, and of God?

Well, in essense I don’t particularly believe in one specific religion. A lot of my beliefs resonate fairly well with Swami Vivekananda’s September 11, 1893 speech.

Did it cause you to leave one Religion for another, or to drop out of church going, or even start attending a church, where you havent considered God before?

Well, it changed my beliefs, but I still go to church.

What have you learned from this Non-Catholic forums here?

Wow. Tons!

Part of the reason for this Topic, was that I am curious on how the Internet has changed peoples lives, on the Topic of God, and the Religions around us.

Agreed. It is intersting to see how such a vast expanse of information can affect different people.

 

[jmcrae]

How has the Internet effected your beliefs in the current Religions, and of God?

Did you mean to say “effected” or “affected”? I know what - I’ll answer both.

The static portion of the Internet is useful for reference material, but for me, the really important part is the dialogue on Forums like these ones, and also e-mail groups.

I was brought into the Catholic faith not only by my local RCIA, but also by a small group of anonymous posters on Steve Ray’s forum, in late 2000 and early 2001.

I was Catechized via the Internet, by people like Tony Liotta, Mary Reinhardt, Father Zulsdorf, Effie Murphy, Steve Ray, and Mark Shea.

I continue to find Forum dialogue very stimulating.

Did it cause you to leave one Religion for another, or to drop out of church going, or even start attending a church, where you havent considered God before?

while I wouldn’t say it was the cause, it was definitely a “quickening agent” - I learned the teachings of the Catholic faith much more quickly once I started researching them on the Internet.

What have you learned from this Non-Catholic forums here?

Nothing that I didn’t already suspect.

 

[Bubble]

What the internet taught me is that anti-catholic hatred is alive and well. I guess I was niave when I started frequenting forums. I thought that Catholics and Protestants had a few differences, but at the heart of things, we were basically the same.

It began when I had a moving dream involving the rosary and I wanted to share it. So, I surfed the net wondering if there was a place to talk about it. My intent was to discuss the dream – not religion. I found a non-denominational forum that was strictly dedicated to dreams. I was brand new to internet forums and went into it not expecting what happened next. After posting my dream, the next day I went back online and found that no one was discussing my dream. Instead, I discovered that my dream generated a full frontal assault on the rosary and Catholicism. It turned out to be my first internet debate. I discovered that there was a whole world of resources at my disposal on the internet and I held my own.

Anyway, I feel indebted to my “attackers”, because it forced me to not be casual in my religious education. I have since learned more about my faith. From reading debates and sometimes participating in them for the last couple of years, I have learned more than about Christianity (Catholic and otherwise) than I had in the previous twenty.

And, quite frankly, the more I know about the other denominations, the more I praise God for the wisdom of the Catholic Church .

 

[heathernoel]

I used beliefnet.com to help me look at where my beliefs lie. I was SCHOCKED when my first choice was Catholicism.

I started attending Mass, and further researched Catholicism online. THen I found this site, and have found it to be an excellent resource.

 

[RobHom]

How has the Internet effected your beliefs in the current Religions, and of God?

Did it cause you to leave one Religion for another, or to drop out of church going, or even start attending a church, where you havent considered God before?

It, the internet and the forums therein, in some cases peopled by moderates all the way up to hatemongers has not caused me to change anything. It has however shown me that my beliefs are true and correct. The more the anti-Catholics rail against the Church…the more they reinforce my faith and beliefs not only in God, but in the Church and its teachings. Why? Because so many sites and people are ill advised and thought, and the people and the sites are full of lies and propaganda containing so much falsehood and farcical information…that its hysterical.

That there are some good non-Catholics out there, and that some of the “others” come here as well.

Part of the reason for this Topic, was that I am curious on how the Internet has changed peoples lives, on the Topic of God, and the Religions around us.

Its a fair question.

[/QUOTE]

 

[isaac.madsen]

I used beliefnet.com to help me look at where my beliefs lie. I was SCHOCKED when my first choice was Catholicism.

I started attending Mass, and further researched Catholicism online. THen I found this site, and have found it to be an excellent resource.

I hate to copy and paste, but this is how my results from BeliefNet.com came out:

1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. Mahayana Buddhism (97%)
3. New Age (91%)
4. Bahá’í Faith (86%)
5. Sikhism (85%)
6. Unitarian Universalism (84%)
7. Jainism (82%)
8. Reform Judaism (81%)
9. Liberal Quakers (81%)
10. Hinduism (77%)
11. Theravada Buddhism (76%)
12. Orthodox Judaism (76%)
13. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (67%)
14. Islam (66%)
15. New Thought (65%)
16. Scientology (60%)
17. Taoism (60%)
18. Orthodox Quaker (51%)
19. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (48%)
20. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (43%)
21. Secular Humanism (38%)
22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (36%)
23. Seventh Day Adventist (34%)
24. Nontheist (30%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (29%)
26. Roman Catholic (29%)
27. Jehovah’s Witness (24%)

beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html