The Bishop, the Mullah, and the Smartphone (PB) (2015)

Not so long ago the world resisted change, often using religious-reasoning. Small wonder--the printing press, a sixteenth century disruptive device, split Christianity. Now the globe welcomes digital disruption, even praising it as a solution for faltering economies. Religions don't have much choice but to follow, because information is a prime asset of faith. Believers treasure and reframe their past, and present. However, both old and current data is now available in huge quantities, visually and instantly. Movies provide more spiritual guidance than holy texts, and terror merchants use the uncontrollable Internet to gain hearts and minds. Nevertheless a turbulent re-mythologization of adherents towards peaceful versions of their belief can be tracked. There are positive things we can all do to help, which is just as well in a world that suggests only political acts count. Bryan Winters has more than thirty years' experience in the IT industry, across several continents. He has lived and worked among both poor and rich Muslims in Africa and Asia. He and his wife, Rosie, live in a beachside community in New Zealand where he is known as an aging surfer.