I'm Gotham Chopra and this is Holy Facts,
the show where we take you on a tour of the
weirder side of religion and spirituality,
from the Church of Elvis to ancient apocalyptic
prophecies. On this episode we're firing
up our smartphones and mapping the intersection
of technology and spirituality. We're just
praying the app doesn't tell us to drive
into a lake.
Phone: Turn left into Lake Ontario
[Intro Music]
Religious leaders have always used the available
technology to connect with the faithful, whether
it was through paintings in prehistoric caves,
radio broadcasts in the 1940s, or televangelists
crying on TV in the 1980s.
But never has religion had so many technological
outlets as it does today. There are hundreds
of spiritual cell phone apps, including the
church-approved Confession: A, Roman Catholic
App, which attempts to make confession more
interactive and "fun," although spicing
up confession seems to defeat the whole purpose
of enduring something unpleasant to atone
for your sins. The app suggests ways in which
you may have sinned based on your age, sex
and vocation and helps you keep track of your
sins in between trips to face-to-face confession.
Now if you're a Muslim, there are apps that
play the call to prayer and point you in the
direction of the ka'aba, the cube in the
center of Mecca, which Muslims must face during
prayers. There are apps that track your charitable
giving and tell you sunrise and sunset times
during fasting periods.
Jewish smartphone users can get the iKotel
app, which provides live webcam shots of the
Western Wall 24-7 and allows users to send
prayers to the wall that will be placed between
the stones by an on-site Rabbi.
But Apps aren't the only way to reach the
faithful. Creative priests and rabbis have
taken to using a radical new video website
called "You-Tube" to reach potential,
current, and lapsed followers. From humorous
videos like "Soul Wow," in which a pitchman
uses infomercial tactics to sell confession,
and "The Book of Purim," a parody of the
Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon,"
to more sincere offerings like Christian sermons
and Jewish prayer Q&As, there's no shortage
of videos for every conceivable spiritual
need. While I'm dubious that any of these
offerings really change anyone's mind or
sell anyone on a particular faith, despite
the excellent sales pitch in the Soul Wow
video
Priest: We have hundreds of priests waiting
to take your confession and give you that
almost baptized feeling.
They are a creative way entertain and reinforce
the beliefs of the already-faithful. Then
of course there's the informal religion
of technology itself, the fanatical devotion
many people feel not to the scripture or God,
but to their favorite devices, websites, or
tech gurus. How many Apple acolytes have pointed
themselves toward their own "sacred cube,"
the one on 5th Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan,
or looked at their new iPads with the sort
of awe-struck reverence formerly reserved
for true miracles?
And though critics bemoan the spiritual "disconnect"
we're suffering as a result of our dependence
on technology, it was technology -- in the
form of the printing press -- that allowed
for the spread of religion in the first place.
So can making more religion available to more
people really be that bad for business?
Do you use technology to connect with the
divine. Do you consider your technology itself
divine? Or do you prefer your religion served
up the old-fashioned way? Let us know in the
comments below or by uploading a response
video.
