What such a warning overlooks, however, is that there has always been "a lot of junk out there," whether it shows up in newspapers, broadcasts, public libraries or public relations. Journalists must be trained discriminators or discerners. A major part of our job has always been separating the news from the spinmeister materials.

Nowhere is this more necessary than where the journalist confronts Internet religion.

On the Internet, religion may well be the most ubiquitous subject discussed and promoted. But rest assured, it ain't your parents' religion. Rest assured, there's a lot of junk out there. But also rest assured there is active, deep and abiding religious thinking and devotion taking place in Cyberspace, still primarily Christian but becoming more diverse each day.

Throughout a good part of the '60s, '70s, and '80s a frequently heard complaint among the young and the middle-aged was something along these lines: "I'm interested in religion; I just don't like going to church."

Or a similar sentiment might be expressed as, "I'm a religious person; I just don't think one has to go to church to be religious."

At the end of the gospels in the New Testament, Jesus gives his disciples instructions to "Go into all the world" and carry the message of repentance and baptism. Many Christians-who call this charge "The Great Commission"-believe that only when the preaching of the Christian gospel has reached every corner of the earth will Jesus return as triumphant Lord and Master.

Enter the Internet. Going into all the world has never appeared more possible as it does with the exploration of Cyberspace and the development of the Internet.

In a recent book, Walter P. Wilson, a California businessman and active layman at the Calvary Church of Los Gatos, writes that all the rules are changing for Christian ministry and that the local church can no longer be simply local. Wilson's book, called "The Internet Church," is in many ways another of those rah-rah evangelistic tomes we've come to expect from Robert Schuller or other tv evangelists, but with a twist: Wilson is speaking strictly about online religion.

Totally apart from anything Wilson describes, recent online developments point to the varied and serious directions that Internet religion is traveling.

Beliefnet.com makes clear it is not a church or a religious organization. It solicits no money from relgious organizations and attempts to give equal play to news and information about all of the world's religions. It has an impressive and varied lineup of columnists. One could spend a day dipping into its opinions and expositions.

Wilson's book points to several sites that are wittingly or not attempting to "go into all the world" via the Internet with the message of religion. Wilson notes that often he is asked if there is a religious supersite on the Web. He points to the Christian Internet Initiative .

CII is a site management group that, in its own words, "helps Christian organizations leverage the Internet for their ministry." Wilson's book suggests CII can develop an impressive Web site in about 12 weeks.

Wilson, as a Christian evangelist, supports this effort, noting that every big church if not every church will eventually need a "pastor of electronic ministries."

Scripps Howard News Service now offers a weekly review of a religion Web site. During the pope's visit to the Holy Land, the chosen site was that of the Vatican , where information about the pope is abundant (and obviously positive).

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service not only provides extensive religion coverage, it will provide subscribing newspapers with fully paginated and researched religion pages on a weekly basis.

Perhaps a step toward Wilson's envisioned "pastor of electronic ministries" was unveiled just two weeks ago when a new site aimed at Christian churches was posted that gives churches, in the words of its founder, Warren Bare (also founder of Headhunter.net), "a way to incorporate the Internet as part of their communciations and customer service strategies." The new site is called InJesus.com , and while aimed exclusively at Christian churches, it represents a trend in religion's presence on the Internet.

Clearly, any journalist seeking to cover the world of religion on the Internet has his or her work cut out in trying to separate the chaff from the wheat, as it were. But that, after all, is a major part of a journalist's calling and responsibility.

Copyright 2000 Joe Shea The American Reporter. All Rights Reserved.