Again, please accept my apology for posting this to the listserv without adequate explanation. Hope we agree that ignorance is not a good excuse to refrain from asking honest questions.
On the latter point, of course not. Rather to the contrary, it is - in my experience, at least, one of the great strengths of this list that many of us frequently ask honest questions precisely out of our ignorance - elst why ask the question? And, from my perspective, the question was (is) terribly pertinent. There is, to my knowledge, and at least compared with everything else that enjoys extensive and close scrutiny on the Internet, surprisingly little work on the Internet vis-à-vis religion. So I, for one, would be very interested in further seeing the results of your work in this area. And: the fact that this question helped us move to what, in my view, is a discussion of the nature of science - one that must concern, so far as I can tell, more or less everyone on the list at some level or another - is a very nice bonus indeed. Finally, I would suggest you post your query to the CATaC (cultural attitudes towards technology and communication) list (please go to www.catacconference.org and sign in on the listserv). There are a significant number of researchers and social activists on that list, some number of whom might well have good suggestions re. religion and Internet-related development. Again, many thanks to all who have contributed to making this thread both respectful and so interesting and fruitful. cheers, - charles ess