Houses of worship spread the faith via the World Wide Web

For an increasing number of Americans, the sky is the limit when it comes to receiving religious information online.

With the Internet's ubiquitous existence, Americans are no longer going online for only entertainment, news or communications. The Internet has changed the way that many consumers receive and distribute religious material and conduct faith-based activities as well.

In the early 2000s, Pew Internet Research polled more than 1,000 religious organizations and reported that 83 percent of respondents said their church's use of the Internet helped congregational life, and 63 percent said that e-mail helped their church connect more with its surrounding community.

By 2004, the same research firm reported that nearly twothirds of "wired" Americans had used the Internet for various spiritual or religious purposes. This number could grow even more with the continuing development of online technologies such as interactive streaming video players.

"Broadcasting faith-based services online is a fantastic way to provide 24/7 spiritual support and develop an even stronger sense of community," said Greg Demetriades, chairman and CEO of WhiteBlox, a developer of commercial online media players. "In addition to live broadcasts of weekly services, an entire video library of services and workshops can be made available on demand."

Considering that religious services can be a social gathering, the relative isolation of the Internet may, at first, seem like an inappropriate match.

But some online video solutions include chat rooms and viewer surveys within the player itself, so viewers can now experience a level of video interactivity and online communitybuilding that was previously unavailable.

In addition, the Internet provides fertile ground for one of the most important functions of any religious organization: donations. With the ability to broadcast live or on-demand videos of services, coupled with an easy online donation system, online broadcasting may become the most divine gift of all for some religious groups.

This story is provided by NewsUSA.