The web is often thought of either as a lawless place, filled with pornographers, gamblers, criminals and anarchists, or a vast virtual shopping mall where hordes of crazed consumers are feverishly maxing out their credit cards.

But the extent to which religious groups of all faiths use the web might come as something of a surprise to many users who assume that the net has only a profane, rather than the sacred, side. Arguably many religions have had an uneasy relationship with science, but some modern technologies are helping the devout keep their faith. The Vatican (which set up its own radio station back in 1931 with some help from Guglielmo Marconi) wasn't slow in embracing the web. Indeed, the Pope has said a place for Christ needs to be claimed in new media. The Vatican has its own country code, .va, and the website of the Holy See (supported by servers named Gabriel, Michael and Raphael) hosts information in six languages for Catholics around the world. Now every major religion has a web presence. And many places of worship, be they churches, mosques or synagogues, keep their congregations informed via individual websites. Some religious folk spend as much time in net chatrooms trying to show the ungodly the error of their way as they do door-stepping people in their homes. It doesn't stop there. The 100 or so parishioners of the Catholic St Anthony's Church in the Indian city of Bangalore don't drop coins in the plate when it is handed around - instead they swipe a smartcard. The card also holds biographical details of parishioners that, among other things, helps the parish priests match up prospective marriage partners.