The rise of religious and Christian search engines
The NPR has a piece on the rise of religious search engines:
In a world where Google has put every bit of information at our fingertips, some people are now demanding less information when they surf the Internet.
Some Jews, Muslims and Christians are abandoning Yahoo and Google and turning to search engines with results that meet their religious standards.
There’s plenty of examples of Christian search engines, but I must admit they’re not something I would make use of.
The NPR article goes on:
According to Michael Gartenberg, a partner at technology research firm Altimeter Group, these religiously centered search engines are bringing new users to the Web.
“You have an emerging generation and emerging culture that wants to take advantage of technology … search engines and the things that they provide but at the same point, be true to their heritage … and not stray from their belief system,” he says.
Although I understand the need for niche search engines in areas such as academia or health, I find the desire to access information that ONLY concurs with preexisting belief systems as a sign of intellectual, or even, faith weakness.
I don’t think specialised religious search engines could be legitimised solely in terms of the wish to avoid objectionable material, it’s not particularly difficult to avoid such material. I appreciate the desire to restrict search results for children, however, surely this is best achieved through robust filtering of all search engine results.
The NPR article goes on to highlight critical responses to religious search engines with use of such terms as censorship and intolerance and although I don’t agree with the first sentiment – It’s up to you if you wish to self-censor – I do have some concern relating to intolerance.
Many years ago it was forbidden – not sure if this was an official stance – for members of the Jehovah Witnesses’ to access the Internet for fear of moral corruption, or let’s be a little more honest, fear of anti-Jehovah Witnesses information.
I note the Jehovah Witnesses’ now have their own highly successful website, but I couldn’t find a dedicated search engine for them.
Given the above and the vast capabilities of the major search engines I simply cannot fathom why some would choose restricted information through a religious search engine.
Would you, or do you, use a specialised Christian search engine and if so why?