Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002, Page 9
worthwhile, quality links. When the word ―God‖ is typed at Alta Vista (a search engine), it
lists 4,538,970 pages. How are teens to evaluate the vast number of sources? They need
resources that are recommended or endorsed by trusted adults, peers, and organizations.
J. Gordon Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa
Barbara, CA, laments that ―we‘re overwhelmed with information on the Web, but we don‘t
know where much of it comes from‖ (Strand, 2000, p. 122). In an article from the Dallas
Morning News, Jeffrey Weiss observes that people frequently forget—or do not know how—
to evaluate critically information about a topic as seemingly subjective as religion. Weiss
writes that it is important to remember, ―the Net is as filled with misinformation about
religion as it is about any other topic‖ (Weiss, 1999, Religion section, para. 3). In his article
on online spirituality, Clark Strand sums up the difficulty of seeking spiritual information on
the Web: ―there are a lot of opinions in cyberspace, but few ways of verifying which are
well-founded and which are not‖ (Strand, 2000, p. 122).
As Begley reports in Newsweek, today‘s teens are more spiritual than their parents, yet
their spirituality can be less conventional. ―Many put together their own religious canon as
they would a salad from a salad bar‖ (Begley, 2000, p. 55). The Internet seems particularly
conducive to developing such an eclectic spiritual identity: at the click of a mouse, teens
have access to information on all different types of religions, many quite obscure.
The Net may be most valuable to those who practice or are interested in faith
traditions that aren‘t well known where they live. Someone interested in the
basics about Islam, the Bahá‘í faith or even renewed worship of Norse and
other pagan deities can find them easily online. (Weiss, 1999, Religion
section, para. 2)
Young adults may also pick-and-choose to form their own spiritual identity because ours is
such a consumer culture that teens treat religion as just another consumer product.
Modern teens move ―among Christian, Jewish, and Oriental religions with ease […] and act
as ‗consumers in the broadcast marketplace of belief systems‘‖ (Webber, 2000, p. 12).
An informal survey conducted by the Center for Youth Studies asked 46 youth educators
and 45 youth workers questions designed to assess their use of the Web and their
perceptions of how teens use the Web, particularly with regard to religion and spirituality.
Approximately 60% of youth educators and youth workers thought that teenagers
―occasionally‖ use the Internet for spiritual/religious purposes. Approximately 15% thought
that teenagers used the Internet a ―great deal‖ for these purposes. The results are
somewhat surprising and contrary to what the general public would believe about teenagers
and the Internet, namely, that they primarily use the Internet for instant messaging, e-
mail, and games/entertainment. An overwhelming majority of respondents supported the
establishment of a Web site where teenagers and others could find credible and reliable
educational information about the world‘s major religions and spirituality.
The following anecdote highlights the difficulty that young adults have in critically evaluating
the religious information available on the Web. J. Gordon Melton, also quoted above, says:
You can go to Reverend Moon‘s Unification Church site, which represents
somewhere between 5-10 thousand Americans, and then you can go to the
Web site of the Methodist Church, which represents 10 million, and the Web
sites are about the same size and quality. If anything, the Unification Church
site might be just slightly better. (Strand, 2000, p. 89).
How would a teen with little or no religious background compare, sort, and weigh the
information available on these two Web sites? Recently on a Jewish bulletin board, Jeremy,
―a self-styled ‗new age intellectual Bohemian,‘‖ articulated this very dilemma:
worthwhile, quality links. When the word ―God‖ is typed at Alta Vista (a search engine), it
lists 4,538,970 pages. How are teens to evaluate the vast number of sources? They need
resources that are recommended or endorsed by trusted adults, peers, and organizations.
J. Gordon Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa
Barbara, CA, laments that ―we‘re overwhelmed with information on the Web, but we don‘t
know where much of it comes from‖ (Strand, 2000, p. 122). In an article from the Dallas
Morning News, Jeffrey Weiss observes that people frequently forget—or do not know how—
to evaluate critically information about a topic as seemingly subjective as religion. Weiss
writes that it is important to remember, ―the Net is as filled with misinformation about
religion as it is about any other topic‖ (Weiss, 1999, Religion section, para. 3). In his article
on online spirituality, Clark Strand sums up the difficulty of seeking spiritual information on
the Web: ―there are a lot of opinions in cyberspace, but few ways of verifying which are
well-founded and which are not‖ (Strand, 2000, p. 122).
As Begley reports in Newsweek, today‘s teens are more spiritual than their parents, yet
their spirituality can be less conventional. ―Many put together their own religious canon as
they would a salad from a salad bar‖ (Begley, 2000, p. 55). The Internet seems particularly
conducive to developing such an eclectic spiritual identity: at the click of a mouse, teens
have access to information on all different types of religions, many quite obscure.
The Net may be most valuable to those who practice or are interested in faith
traditions that aren‘t well known where they live. Someone interested in the
basics about Islam, the Bahá‘í faith or even renewed worship of Norse and
other pagan deities can find them easily online. (Weiss, 1999, Religion
section, para. 2)
Young adults may also pick-and-choose to form their own spiritual identity because ours is
such a consumer culture that teens treat religion as just another consumer product.
Modern teens move ―among Christian, Jewish, and Oriental religions with ease […] and act
as ‗consumers in the broadcast marketplace of belief systems‘‖ (Webber, 2000, p. 12).
An informal survey conducted by the Center for Youth Studies asked 46 youth educators
and 45 youth workers questions designed to assess their use of the Web and their
perceptions of how teens use the Web, particularly with regard to religion and spirituality.
Approximately 60% of youth educators and youth workers thought that teenagers
―occasionally‖ use the Internet for spiritual/religious purposes. Approximately 15% thought
that teenagers used the Internet a ―great deal‖ for these purposes. The results are
somewhat surprising and contrary to what the general public would believe about teenagers
and the Internet, namely, that they primarily use the Internet for instant messaging, e-
mail, and games/entertainment. An overwhelming majority of respondents supported the
establishment of a Web site where teenagers and others could find credible and reliable
educational information about the world‘s major religions and spirituality.
The following anecdote highlights the difficulty that young adults have in critically evaluating
the religious information available on the Web. J. Gordon Melton, also quoted above, says:
You can go to Reverend Moon‘s Unification Church site, which represents
somewhere between 5-10 thousand Americans, and then you can go to the
Web site of the Methodist Church, which represents 10 million, and the Web
sites are about the same size and quality. If anything, the Unification Church
site might be just slightly better. (Strand, 2000, p. 89).
How would a teen with little or no religious background compare, sort, and weigh the
information available on these two Web sites? Recently on a Jewish bulletin board, Jeremy,
―a self-styled ‗new age intellectual Bohemian,‘‖ articulated this very dilemma:
