iGod

After buying my iPad, it didn't take me long to realize that the commercials didn't lie. There really is an app for everything.

Take religion, for example.

Recently, The Huffington Post reported on a new app that claims to prepare a person for the sacrament of confession. Although the Catholic church approves of the app, the official stance is that using it does not replace the actual sacrament. There's also an app known as the Bible Shaker which allows the user to pick a topic (anything from guilt to finances) and read a related verse. Then there's the iPhone app, the Mizrach Compass which will always point the user towards Jerusalem (and thus avoid accidentally praying towards Mecca).

Additionally, nearly every sacred writing is available as well. The Christian Bible, the Scriptures of the Ladder Day Saints, the Tanach, the Quran and even the Bhagavad-Gita can be accessed on iPads, iPods, or iPhones.

But does this plethora of religious technology really bring anyone closer to a higher power? Would, for example, my life be better if I relied on the iChing app to make my decisions for me? Can reading iBreviary or consulting a virtual prayer book or relying on the Hallalujah button (an app that plays Handel's Hallelujah chorus at the touch of a button), really bring me closer to God?

I seriously doubt it.

Margaret Atwood's futuristic, dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, tells of a store called Soul's Scrolls in which pious people pay to have prayers printed and read out loud by machines. When Offred, the main character, is asked whether she believes these prayers have any effect at all, she thinks of the cruel punishment she's endured at the hands of a Christian theocracy, answers that they do not.

I agree.

While I do have my share of religious texts on my iPad's i-Library, I draw the line at buying Jesus Lives! or Bible Clock apps. To me, these things cheapen religion, ranking with such low-tech but equally obnoxious products such as 'Got Jesus' t-shirts and 'God is My Co-Pilot' bumper stickers.

Having an iPad full of religious apps does not make you a Christian any more than owning a cookbook makes you a chef.
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Photo credit: "Internet Buddhist" by uncorneredmarket - www.flicker.com