Web Traffic Gives Tech Site Spiritual Turn
“I believe that any Christian who is qualified to write a good popular book on any science may do much more by that than by any directly apologetic work. What we want is not more little books about Christianity, but more little books by Christians on other subjects.”
--C.S. Lewis
Three years ago, these words from C.S. Lewis, spoken at a youth leadership conference in 1945, gave me the idea to create a site on the World Wide Web that would be a help to people using or designing computers and programs.
Since the late 1970s, I’ve worked with many kinds of computers: selling them, designing simple hardware and software, and integrating them into powerful systems, primarily for use in mechanical engineering.
My faith has helped me do this work, so it was only natural that I should attempt to use technology to express my faith. Since Jesus commanded me to love my neighbor, it seemed reasonable to give what I had: the ability to solve problems and explain technology.
My Web site (https://www.primenet.com/~rshmnw) is titled “The Rushmans: Christianity and UNIX.” And in the beginning, it was mostly about UNIX, a computer operating system. I enjoy writing short, useful programs, so I put a few of these on the site. Lists of helpful links and definitions of some lesser-known technologies followed soon after. People surfing the Web found the site and began to send comments and questions. I posted some of the questions and my answers. I enjoy solving problems and these kept me in practice. It also gave me more experience, which helped with my “day job.”
Just as it was coming together, something changed. The home page had the usual personal information about my family and faith, so a reader sent e-mail requesting my “testimony,” the more detailed story of how I became a Christian. I added it to the site.
Then someone else wrote requesting a description of Christianity for an online magazine. I posted it as well. About this time, our family became friends with another couple who encouraged me to write, especially on matters of faith.
I had already been helping with faith-formation classes in our parish, and found it easy to expand my notes from talks into pages for our Web site. Soon, I wasn’t writing any new technical pages and there were dozens of pages on faith.
What started out as a technical site has become an evangelical outpost in the Internet marketplace of ideas. Just as St. Paul spoke in a public place where people could listen or walk away, the Web pages are there to be read or bypassed.
When someone reads what I’ve written, they have the opportunity to make a comment or ask a question. About 10 people write every week to ask for technical help, spiritual advice or a new essay on some subject. A student in New Zealand asked for help with getting started in UNIX, a writer in London asked for information on the colors associated in religious art with the seven deadly sins, and many people have written for some kind of spiritual direction.
My faith tends to avoid the ideological categories such as conservative, liberal or traditional. Being a Catholic layman, I won’t try to define doctrine or preach, but I can comment on what the church believes and how it works for our family and friends.
The great majority of messages are positive, and about 6,000 people visit the site every month. This is not a large number by Internet standards, but I have a modest view of success. The whole experience is a surprise.
I’ve never felt any personal conflict between technology and faith. Technology has helped me share my faith with more than 60,000 people so far, and provided the financial means for supporting a beautiful family. As a Christian, I believe Jesus Christ is the author of every good thing, including electricity, silicon and light. On the Internet, I try to use these things in a way pleasing to him.
On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson.
