Related articles and links |  1 of 2

Beliefnet, which burst upon the scene last January, has landed celebrity writers such as Michael Jackson, Colin Powell, and retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong while signing up over 1,000 houses of worship for its Web-hosting service.

With its tagline, "We all believe in something"—as nonthreatening a brand id as can be found in the marketing world—the service also embarked on its first product-marketing venture, a CD of sacred tunes from around the world. Magazines, books, and other items are due to follow, says cofounder Steve Waldman, a former U.S. News & World Report editor.

"We seem to be doing well," Waldman told CT in an interview. "We're watching all these other companies dropping like flies. We had our second round of financing in May, and we've gotten some big traffic-driving partnerships."

The largest of these partnerships—for which financial terms have not been disclosed—are with America Online and About.com, a portal for "comprehensive information" Web sites. On AOL, which bills itself as the world's leading Internet service provider, "co-branded" Beliefnet sites "will offer … tens of millions of users … information, community applications, resources, and products in the religious and spiritual arena," according to an announcement. Beliefnet will also have the ability to sell ads on the co-branded sites.

For About.com, which claims nearly 20 million viewers, Beliefnet is now "the premier provider of religious and spiritual content, news, and interactive tools," supplementing the "human guides" About.com has employed in the same fields.

"Places like AOL view our content as having real value," Waldman says. "There aren't many places that provide high-value content about religion and spirituality."

The mixture of content-providing and controversy—with a healthy dash of commerce thrown in—appears to have done the trick for Beliefnet, which continues to be the media darling for all things spiritual. Time magazine chose Waldman as one of its six religious innovators who "will guide our inner lives" in the 21st century, Yahoo! named Beliefnet one of the 100 best sites on the Internet, and the service was a finalist for a Columbia University Online Journalism award for its Memorial Day area.

The controversy surrounding some of Beliefnet's offerings started when Associated Press religion writer Richard N. Ostling reported in a January 2000 article that the firm had tapped scholar Marcus Borg as its Bible columnist. Borg, a theologian and member of the hypercritical "Jesus Seminar" (CT, Aug. 7, 2000, p. 73), would not be a favorite of evangelicals; Beliefnet quickly clarified that he would be a columnist, but not the sole one.

The service has not shied away from Spong's participation, even though the retired bishop's other online activity—a column on sexuality for Theposition.com—drew front-page censure from the New York Post, which labeled the prelate "The Bishop of Cybersex."

"It's important that the site be fair and balanced; not in any given article, but in the diversity of viewpoints," Waldman says. He adds that by including former Family Research Council leader Gary Bauer in the Beliefnet roster (as well as Fuller Seminary president Richard Mouw, the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land, and former CT columnist Frederica Mathewes-Green), Beliefnet achieves that diversity of views.

next page... |  1 of 2

February 19 2001, Vol. 45, No. 3