Putting Faith In the Web

For a mere $14.95 (plus shipping and handling), you can buy a jersey online from Christianbook.com that's remarkably similar to the one worn by former Chicago Bulls Superstar Michael Jordan, albeit with a religious twist. Rather than having "Bulls" and the familiar number "23" on the item, this one has the Biblical passage "Psalm 23" emblazoned on its front.

Inspired? How about offended? In an attempt to spread the word of God, some e-tailers run the risk of turning the Internet into exactly the kind of bazaar that made Jesus Christ cringe nearly 2,000 years ago. And it's not just Christians who have put faith and commerce together on the Web, but Jews, Muslims, Mormons and Buddhists, too, prompting some in the spiritual world to wonder if there's a limit to how much faith should be put online. To some, religions of the world risk establishing an unholy alliance with the Internet. "[The commercialization of religion] is always a huge concern for us," says Franklin Lewis, president of Mstar.Net, an Internet development company that was spun off last year by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) to drive its global online initiatives.

For leaders of the LDS church, the potential conflict of religion and e-business was so high on their minds that they abandoned plans to let the Web-development shop evolve into a full-fledged business, for fear it would be too closely tied to the church's overall mission.

Mstar was launched as a for-profit business in the spring of 1999, but was changed to nonprofit status only a few months later in light of church concerns of tying a for-profit business unit with its spiritual content. "We have specific instructions from the leadership of the church about not crossing that line because the church is very concerned about anything that's close to the doctrine or the scriptures giving even the appearance of a commercial interest," Lewis says. "The e-commerce solutions we offer are really things to support the efforts of the church."

The Internet is a huge concern for the Salt Lake City-based church because it has become the most important platform to expand and solidify its message throughout the world in the 21st century.

Other faiths are similarly wrestling with the issue. It's become a weighty dilemma because, as many religious leaders point out, the Internet has great potential for helping religious organizations influence more people. For some, it is emerging as the medium of choice for delivering spiritual messages. But using the Web to spread faith raises any number of difficult questions, not the least of which is the role religious convictions and morality issues play in deciding how churches or religiously affiliated organizations leverage Internet technology. What's more, there are inherent questions lurking behind this market about the commercialization of religion.

Online Inevitability
In reality, this problem is nothing new. Religious entities and spiritual leaders have long wrestled with incorporating technology into their faiths. Christian, Muslim and Jewish scholars have historically been at the forefront of emerging forms of communication--everything from the written word to moveable type to the printing press to radio and television. All have been exploited effectively to help faiths spread their messages to the world. Thus, it was inevitable that churches would look to convey spiritual teachings to the masses via the Internet. But because the Web is so closely associated with pornography and "subversive" behavior, it has become a lightning rod of controversy for religious leaders. The spread of online commerce--much of it the tacky, retail variety--has only exacerbated the controversy.

Rather than recoil from the issue, however, faiths the world over have embraced the Internet wholeheartedly. As more focus is placed on living in an Internet economy and people spend more time online, the Web has become a natural pipeline for religious fulfillment for literally millions of people worldwide. Ventura, Calif.-based Barna Research Group, a Christian research company, estimates that 25 million people currently use the Internet for some form of religious expression. Furthermore, approximately 22 percent of new and established Internet users say they regularly go to the Web for spiritual and religious information, according to a recent Web usage study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, based in Washington, D.C.

"All religious organizations are already online or getting online quickly," says Eric Manno, COO of Commack, N.Y.-based Internet services company Invision, which counts the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Rockville Center in New York among its recent clients. "They know they need to reach out to their communities, and they are looking to start taking advantage of online charitable contributions. They also want to reach out to people with special requirements who may not be able to make it to church but are still looking for information."

According to Internet search engine Yahoo, there are 34,050 Web sites associated with some form of spiritual or religious content, with 36 different online directories available for religious searches. But industry experts say the actual number of religiously oriented sites nearly doubles that figure.

In some cases, the identity may be a small informational page posted from the basement of a Web-savvy congregant to let people know what's going on at their local temple, church or mosque. In others, it's an initiative to create a diocesewide Internet site where parishioners can learn about parish and school activities, read scripture and even make online donations.

But what about the growing number of online retail sites that operate as virtual spiritual communities while selling a variety of merchandise, such as books, CDs and inspirational items? Have these e-tailing organizations--often backed by venture capitalists, not evangelists or nonprofit religious groups--crossed the line between spirituality and business?

Clearly, there's money to be made for those who can successfully bridge the gap between religion and the Internet and create virtual communities and exchanges for believers of all faiths. (Some in the industry, including Guy Coleman, co-founder of iChristian.com, which teamed up with Peabody, Mass.-based Christianbook.com, expect the Christian market alone to hit $6 billion by 2004.)

"The big question everyone is asking themselves right now is how to monetize this," says Deborah Gaines, vice president of content for New York-based Virtual Communities, the creator of Jewish online community Virtual Jerusalem.com. "I don't personally think that a pure content or community site is going to be able to pay for itself any more than a magazine without ads is going to be able to pay for itself."

And if commercializing religion is indeed a concern in today's Internet economy, does that responsibility lie on the shoulders of solution providers--or just the clients they serve?

In some cases, the creation of religiously oriented sites may actually elevate a solution provider's work to a higher level. That was the case for Boulder, Colo.-based Web integrator XOR, which helped build the e-business applications for the now-defunct Christian community site iBelieve.com.

"One of the things that was exciting for us was that while putting this team together, we allowed people who had a particular interest in the project to participate because of their Christian nature," says XOR CEO Greg Jacobsen. "If they really felt this aspect would be something that added to their experience, we encouraged that. And we did have a number of people on the team who were particularly excited because of that."

The same holds true for the founders and employees of Beliefnet, which describes itself as a "multifaith e-community" where people of all different religions and beliefs can interact with each other and hopefully fulfill their own spiritual needs.

"I'd say the vast majority of people working here see the opportunity and commercial implications of this market and want to be a part of this success," says Tony Uphoff, Beliefnet CEO.

Beliefnet takes the idea of fostering spiritual community in a new direction--through the creation of a multifaith portal. "Today, there are about 65,000 individual faith and spirituality sites out there," says Uphoff, a former executive at CMP Media, the publisher of VARBusiness. "But when we looked out at the landscape, we said, 'Gee, there's nobody out there aggregating all of this together and creating a portal experience.'"

Like most of its other spiritual-lifestyle competitors, Beliefnet is a privately held, for-profit company backed by a slew of VCs, including Highland Capital Partners, Primus Venture Partners, Blue Chip Venture Co., Zero Stage Capital and the Trump Group. The 9-month-old site attracts just more than 1 million unique visitors per month. Meanwhile, the company is aligning itself with popular portals and services, such as America Online and Yahoo, to syndicate religious content to an even wider audience. The site also offers articles and columns penned by a variety of scholars and religious figures on topics including morality, faith and culture.

At its core, Beliefnet has no qualms about being in the business of e-commerce. It boasts a large shopping area where visitors can purchase books, videos and other items related to spirituality and religion. And it focuses on concepts such as community-building, loyalty and stickiness much the way other portals do. Moreover, it's not out to promote a particular dogma, Uphoff says; instead, it's simply trying to create an online experience that "can be something that really impacts people's lives."

"The smartest thing we could do is never try to hide [the e-business aspect]," Uphoff says. "When we were first looking at this, we made a decision not to pretend that we're not in this for commercial gain because that would tell users there was something suspect."

Uphoff says the e-commerce aspect of the site helps his company sustain a strong revenue base, which in turn is vital to ensuring Beliefnet has the ability to provide completely unbiased, quality content. But to be safe, the company has a strict policy against advertising products or services--such as alcohol, sex or drugs--that don't fit in with the overall spiritual content of the site. And when it comes to e-commerce, Beliefnet avoids selling products that aren't intrinsically tied to the mission of the site.

Expanding Communities
For many religious organizations embracing the Web, e-commerce transactions are not the main goal. In many cases, they are looking to the Internet as a way to expand their respective communities.

In a recent article about using the Web for church management, Christian Computing Magazine warned about the threat secular online communities are posing to the traditional notions of religious solidarity and community.

"By sharing experiences, interests and opinions, these members attach and transform their lifestyles by increasingly interacting with other members in secular online communities," the article says. "To us, this trend sets off a red flag because more and more Christians will drift away from the church and seize the values of the world."

The article goes on to discuss the need for Christian churches to adapt to new demands and create dynamic online communities for their followers to foster "increased interaction and fellowship."

Although the article is geared to Christian churches, it's clear the message transcends individual religions. Today there are sites appearing for people of virtually every faith. For instance, followers of Islam have a variety of community sites, including Al-Islam.com, Islam101.com and the Nation of Islam's official home page (www.noi.org). Halal Mutual Investment (www.halalmutual

.com) provides followers with investment and finance information that adheres to the Shari'ah principles. And for followers of the Hindu religion, there's even Hindunet.org, an informational and community site run by the Global Hindu Electronics Network in Boston.

"Our membership is spread all over the U.S. and Canada, and people need lots of information about the organization and our activities and services," says Sayyid M. Syeed, secretary general for Plainfield, Ind.-based Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). "For us, the Web is the best way to reach out, especially since so many Muslims are at the forefront of this [Internet] field. There is immense potential here, and we are working toward utilizing as much as we can."

Syeed says it's also important that groups like ISNA provide positive alternatives for Internet users--especially young adults who may be just starting out on their personal quests for spiritual answers. "Educating them and helping them to develop and grow within their culture and religion is a tremendous scope," Syeed says. "We are providing an alternative to our people on the Web. This is a safer alternative--religiously more inspiring and fulfilling in that sense."

For Jewish surfers, there's Virtual Jerusalem.com, which went live on Jerusalem Day, May 17, 1996, offering members news and information about Israel and the Jewish world, stories and tips on Jewish lifestyle issues, interactive features and even travel information.

Founded by Avi Moskowitz, CEO of parent company Virtual Communities, the site was originally created with a strong Orthodox perspective. But over time, it became clear that its audience included a wider mix of Jewish people, so the company decided to make it more pluralistic. Today, the site is a profitable business with more than 225,000 registered users and roughly 5 million pages published each month.

While Virtual Jerusalem has its own e-commerce capabilities, Gaines says the real revenue comes from partnerships with other successful Jewish retailers, such as Kosher Finder, Judaic Worldwide and Everything Jewish.

"Community sites either need to partner with successful commerce sites or people who have other agendas," Virtual Communities' Gaines says. "We can bring the people in. Once they get there, somebody has to figure out how to make money from them. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, we put the right partnerships in place so people can come to us. And, of course, we get a percentage of whatever is sold."

Ironically, Virtual Communities is now moving into the

e-business solution-provider space and is looking to sell off the profitable Virtual Jerusalem site, along with a number of its other community sites, so it can focus on licensing its proprietary content-management solution, Cortra, to other organizations.

"That software in itself has become a really hot interest for a lot of people," Gaines says. "Over the past few months, we realized that there was a greater, larger and more immediate profit in selling the software and licensing it through Web development shops and whomever else."