“Bless me father, for I have sinned. It’s been three months since my last confession.” Clicks “Send.”

“Go and do penance my son, become a fan of three saints and ‘like’ at least three different images of their holy relics.” Clicks “Send.”

Could anyone ever imagine confession being conducted over the Internet?

Well, perhaps that’s a bit of a stretch for now, but many faith groups are using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote their faith and recruit newer members. Rabbi Ben Greenberg, a campus rabbi at Harvard University and director of The Seif Jewish Learning Initiative, composed a Hebrew Bible condensed into sections of 140 characters or less. The book is called “Twitter Torah” and divides the weekly portions of the Hebrew Bible that are read in synagogues in order to make it more accessible and understandable to the social networking generation. However, Greenberg isn’t the only religious leader reaching out to a younger generation of leaders.

Appearing in an article last Thursday in The Salt Lake Tribune, a church in Houston has gone as far as encouraging its parishioners to turn on their phones in church and tweet questions or comments during service.

The questions they tweet will appear on a big screen behind the pastor who will then answer them after the service. Moreover, more and more evangelical Christians are starting to stream sermons online through their Facebook pages.

Understandably, churches that enter into social media do so to reach the most difficult demographics, such as teenagers and college students. And a church Facebook page and Twitter account could very well be beneficial to members of that respective church. After all, utilizing e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, etc., to its fullest potential eliminates many of the mailing costs a religious institution incurs through notifying its members regarding events and up-to-the-minute church news.

However, for some, the idea of using social media to attract newer members and provide a place for worship online would seem contrary to the Christian ideal of community. After all ,Twitter, MySpace and Facebook all encourage — to a certain degree — self-absorption. The whole idea of Twitter is someone tweets even the most miniscule of things, because he or she thinks it is important for everyone to know.

Thus, social networking sites undermine the sense of a true community and may encourage a distant and impersonal state of community.

Arguably, however, besides visiting many of the communities he preached to, St. Paul also heavily relied on the Roman postal service to help deliver his message of Christ to the gentile communities. Without it, he may have never reached the people within the Roman Empire the way he did. Thus, there are some instances when forms of social media can be helpful to permeating the message of one’s church and religious beliefs.

It should not be all too surprising to see churches move toward the Internet and social media to keep members in touch and active within their community. Perhaps “Confession 1.0” isn’t as much of a far cry as I originally presumed.

Reach Joseph at jhermiz@asu.edu.