Once the social network discovered the popularity of religious leaders on Twitter, the company actively began working with religious communities.

"The issue is are there things which are justifiably secret and ought to be kept secret, and there are," says former Ambassador Edward Rowell.

At Manhattan High School for Girls, students are learning what Jewish law teaches about gossip, rumors, and evil speech.

"Spirituality has always had a virtual aspect to it," says anthropology professor Tom Boellsdorff. "People in Second Life can pray and do all kinds of things and find it completely spiritually fulfilling."

A number of us started calling it "church" kind of flippantly. It feels like church. It really has, for some of us, become church.

Godtube features over 1.5 million hours of Christian video, more than any other Christian broadcast platform, according to Godtube CEO and creator Chris Wyatt. It combines many of the well-known features of other sites (Myspace.com, Facebook.com, Youtube.com), and in August, it was the fastest growing website in the U.S.

The fate of St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans is uncertain. Its pastor was evacuated to Baton Rouge, while members of the church have spread across the nation. Amy Butler, the church’s former associate pastor, is trying to minister to members online from Washington, D.C. Also, what role should the government have, if any, in providing compensation to the victims?

Alarmed by the proliferation of hate Web sites available on the Internet, the Anti-Defamation League sponsored a symposium in Washington, D.C. to address the concern. Joined by representatives of America Online, the ADL called for new warnings and guidelines for online content. However, controlling the content on the internet and, who views it, without violating individual rights is a hard task.