The Church of England has released a new book of blessings which includes prayers for offices, computer systems, and going on the internet.
Consecrations, Blessings and Prayers includes a prayer to be used before going on the internet which reads: “through our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing” to God.
“We need this prayer because when we open that door to the internet and social media, anything can happen,” publisher and vicar Reverend Christine Smith told The Telegraph.
“It might make people stop and think before they vent their spleen online, especially if they print it out and put it on their screen,” Revd Smith added.
This is not the first instance of the mother church of England has sought to modernise to keep up with current societal and cultural trends. During The recent climate change protests by Extinction Rebellion — which has the support of the church’s former archbishop, Rowan Williams — one church vicar likened the disruptive protesters who were gluing themselves to buildings, trains, and vehicles to Jesus Christ.
In 2017, the Church of England told its schools that it should allow children to experiment with their gender identity, while in 2018 it released guidance on how clergymen can mark a parishioner’s transition to a different sex, and a female bishop said later in the same year year that the church should stop referring to God only as male.
More recently, Reverend Lissa Scott offered to cover up crucifixes and a painting of Jesus in order to be sensitive to Muslims using St Matthew and St Luke’s church to celebrate the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The event did not go as planned, however, when the diocese of Durham intervened, declaring that “an act of worship from a non-Christian faith tradition is not permitted within a consecrated [Church of England] building”.
Church of England attendance has been steadily in decline, and despite such attempts to make the church more relevant to young people, just one-in-fifty young Britons identify as members of a congregation.