Barna Research found that 8 percent of adults and 12 percent of teenagers use the Internet for religious or spiritual experiences. Religious use of the Internet ranked eighth among the eight possibilities explored. But the study also found that people are just warming up to the idea of cyberfaith. When asked about their likeliness to use the Internet to seek or engage in specific types of religious experiences, more than two-thirds indicated they were likely to engage in such pursuits on a regular basis as the decade progresses. If the research projections hold true, even online worship, the least appealing of the 11 Net-based faith alternatives tested in the study, would likely attract 30 to 35 million adults.
Younger respondents are also more familiar with religious applications of the Internet.
Activities such as reading devotional passages online and submitting prayer requests were of much greater interest to younger people. Hispanics and blacks have a far greater level of hope and trust relative to the cyberchurch than do white adults. Other population segments that are more willing to give the Internet a try in regard to significant faith dimensions are men and people under the age of 35. Some of them will be individuals who have not had a connection with a faith community, but millions of others will be people who drop out of the physical church in favor of the cyberchurch. One-third of Protestant churches have a Web site, the study found, and a total of about 110,000 Protestant congregations have a digital presence.