Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502060057
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
With a click, viewers can be transported into a spiritual meditation, a video re-enactment of Jesus' life, a search for guidance among the Bible's 31,173 verses or a stroll through the streets of Jerusalem.
If all of that spiritual movement leaves them feeling queasy, viewers can call up some soothing Jewish folk music and a recipe for old-fashioned, kosher chicken soup.
It's all courtesy of the CD-ROM hardware that is transforming home computers into powerful multimedia centers.
For years, computers have been the hottest tools for writing letters, balancing budgets and playing games. Now they're becoming religious sanctuaries as well.
``The whole industry is on the threshold, ready to get into this big time,'' said Phyllis Tickle, religion editor for Publisher's Weekly.
Behind the growing interest is a powerful force: Americans are searching for spiritual answers in the '90s - but most want to experience religion rather than read books about it.
``These are postliterate times,'' said David Burke, director of translation for the American Bible Society in New York, a nonprofit group that publishes and distributes more than 2 million Bibles a year.
``More and more, people can read, but they prefer to watch,'' Burke said. ``So we've been asking ourselves: If the Bible is to remain the primary medium for communicating God's message, how do we communicate with that segment of the population that is no longer willing to read?''
Most CD-ROM software still resembles a video-game arcade - full of monsters, spaceships, exotic weapons and life-threatening adventures. Religion is relegated to a tiny corner of the software department.
That will change with the new wave of religious CD-ROMs, said Carla Bayha, multimedia buyer for Borders bookstores.
``This is absolutely a growing area,'' Bayha said. ``But it's so new, I don't think we've seen the best products yet. I think the best products will be coming out in the next year or two.''
Thomas Nelson, the nation's largest commercial publisher of Bibles, only recently recognized the potential of CD-ROM and created a new division, the Royal Media Group, to produce them as well as videotapes. Nelson is scrambling to join the market but won't have a CD-ROM for sale until at least the end of the year, said spokeswoman Michele Buc.
The American Bible Society was quicker to see the potential and has just released ``The Visit,'' its first in a series of biblical CD-ROMs.
``The Visit'' focuses on the visit of Mary, when she was pregnant with Jesus, to see her cousin Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist. The CD-ROM immerses viewers in artistic and scholarly interpretations of the story. Korean dancers wearing rainbow-colored veils dance an abstract version of the story; African women, playing drums, sing a song about it; a Peruvian ensemble presents a modern-day musical tale about loving families.
A few clicks of a computer mouse uncover scholarly research about the original Greek text of Luke's gospel. If viewers are moved, the program invites them to write their own religious poetry on the computer screen. ``The Visit'' costs $40, a typical cost of CD-ROM religious titles.
The plastic compact disks, similar to music CDs, contain densely packed information in a format called Read Only Memory (ROM) that allows the computer to access it but not alter it. The disks have so much capacity that it's easy to include the entire Bible and still have room for video, music, photos and narration.
Compton's NewMedia hired actor Jones for the voice of God in its new ``Complete Multimedia Bible.'' Click on the Ten Commandments and Jones' resonant baritone booms: ``Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.''
Select a video tour of Jerusalem and suddenly you're moving along narrow streets as a narrator explains: ``This is the Via Dolorosa, the way of sorrow Christ followed ... to the place of crucifixion.''
The video is so realistic that a salesman pops out of a shop, hawking a souvenir, until the narrator apologizes and adds: ``Here you can see the sights Christ saw - but not the souvenir shop.''
These experiences could shape a person's spiritual journey, said Dennis Dahlmann, owner of Angel Treasures, a religious shop in Royal Oak, Mich.
Dahlmann is producing his own CD-ROM for children that will show a group of young friends that face moral and spiritual choices in their neighborhood. He hopes to have it ready by Christmas.
Right now, his shop offers one CD-ROM title, ``Angels: The Mysterious Messengers,'' which is packed with pictures and stories. It also offers multimedia guidance in a New Age-style meditation.
Dahlmann admitted that isn't traditional Christian theology.
``The step that I hope people eventually will make is getting into the Bible and learning about God's word,'' Dahlmann said. ``But, for a lot of people, learning a little bit about angels might be the first step for them.''
by CNB