Faith on your cell phone

I get a lot of press releases pitching the coolest, newest way to make religion more convenient. Here's one promoting Verizon Wireless' new MyFaith service.

In today’s increasingly fast-paced and secular world, many Southern California residents may find it difficult to juggle spiritual inspiration and devotion with busy social schedules, work commitments and other constant time demands.

Thanks to two services from Verizon Wireless, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews and Sikhs can keep their religious faith close to them during high-speed, on-demand days. Features include:

* Daily Prayer Devotions - Search for prayers and verses from six different faiths through the vast catalogue of inspirational material - when it’s most needed.

* Daily Text Alerts – Sign up to receive a daily text message with quotes from the Bible, Qur’an, Dhammapada or Talmud.

* Religious Holidays - Planning religious celebrations into your schedule is easy with the handy reference calendar of religious events.

* Spiritual Ringback Tones - Customized ringback tones featuring inspirational music from today’s top stars including, Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, MercyMe and more.

In addition to these services, MyFaith subscribers also have access to religious wallpaper and fast facts about their religious faith, along with multilingual support in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

I remember writing only two years about what seemed a novel new approach to missing the Sunday sermon -- catching up with the podcast, er, Godcast. And then there was that drive-thru church service in Iowa (not to be confused with the spoof below).