App Watch: Getting Religion on the Go

Apr 09
2011

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At the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., prayer is done hands held together and voices raised; a well-worn, note-filled Bible is a badge of honor; and the pastor expects a responsive congregation.

It’s an environment where reading from your iPhone’s “Holy Bible” app and live-tweeting the pastor’s messages can be a bit … conspicuous.

“My wife will actually take my phone from me sometimes and put it in her purse,” says parishioner Wade Harris, flashing a grin.

Which is why he’s learned to be discreet.

“Sometimes I have the phone in the middle of the Bible,” he says with a chuckle.

From apps that let you tweet Bible verses to those that help you face Mecca or pray the right Hebrew blessings with the right foods, some of the pious are embracing mobile technology. As they do, they’re challenging the norms of religious practice.

Eric Granata, a graphic designer who attends Frontline Fellowship in Oklahoma City, Okla., says having a pocket-sized Bible that comes with several translations, commentaries, reading plans and social networking options beats toting around a hardcopy. Even so, he can’t help but feel self-conscious while using it at church.

“I feel like people might be like, ‘Hey, look at that guy texting during church, what a jerk.’ But I promise I’m on my Bible, it’s cool, I’m following along with you guys,” he says, laughing.

For Mr. Harris, who hosts the Christian hip-hop program “The Wade-O Radio Show,” the slight unease is worth it.

During a recent Sunday service, Mr. Harris was in a pew near the front of his church with his head bowed low. He wasn’t praying, he was typing. And if you happened to be one of djwadeo’s 2,500 Twitter followers, you would have seen what he was learning:

“Lot of people want God’s Blessings. But they don’t want God. Seek God first and let the rest fall into place – My Pastor.”

Mr. Harris says his Facebook and Twitter updates are a testimony of his faith and a part of his ministry.

“I have a ton of friends on Facebook and Twitter, who maybe they don’t go to church,” he says. “I’ll send stuff out to people just maybe as an encouragement.”

Likewise, Rabbi Zalman Goldstein who developed iBlessing, an app to help Jews pair the right prayers with the right foods, says mobile technology can help teach non-observant Jews about Jewish religious traditions in a low-pressure and easily accessible environment.

For others like Adil Pasha of Mineola, N.Y., it’s a modern-day convenience. Although the Morgan Stanley IT consultant was taught to orient himself to Mecca based on the rising and setting sun, he says he sometimes finds himself squinting at the sky when in an unfamiliar environment. That is, until the Islamic Compass application came along.

“It was a big relief,” the Morgan Stanley IT consultant says, laughing. “You don’t have to stand outside trying to figure it out yourself.”

Religion and culture scholar Rachel Wagner says we can expect religions to wrestle with wanting to stay relevant while staying true to beliefs and traditions.

Though some religious officials are quick to embrace technology, others have their reservations. They fear it may encourage congregants to disconnect from their religious community or look to their gadgets rather than to their spiritual leaders or God.

The Vatican swiftly dispelled any ideas that the iPhone could take the place of a priest with the release of “Confession: A Roman Catholic App.” The app was sanctioned by the church, receiving an imprimatur – the church’s license to print religious texts, but reports of the app suggested users could confess to the app directly. A Vatican spokesperson clarified that while Catholics can use the app to prepare for the sacrament, absolution requires and in-person dialogue between priest and penitent.

Ms. Wagner, author of the upcoming book “Godwired: Religion, Ritual, and Virtual Reality,” says apps challenge the role of spiritual leaders.

Still, while technology may transform religion as we know it, Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, says it will never eliminate community or the clergy.

Citing the invention of the printing press as an example, she says, “Everyone thought that this was going to lead to isolated religious experience because people would go home and sit in their rooms and read their Bibles by themselves.”

Instead, it sparked a religious revolution that led to Protestantism.

“The place of private religious experience made possible by technology has been happening for a very long time,” she says, “we may be in the middle of a religious transformation that could be positive, that’s the size of the Reformation.”

Computers-Plus