GetReligion, or maybe not

logo gfocThis is kind of fun. Maybe.

I just received an email from the Rev. Dr. Arne H. Fjeldstad of Norway, the Lutheran pastor and veteran newspaper editor who is the director of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, which is the organization that brings you GetReligion (be patient, that website is just getting started).

Fjeldstad is very interested in anything that has to do with human rights, especially the laws that govern religious liberty and press freedom (and the Web, in particular). That was the subject of a seminar that I led with him last summer in Oxford, England, which drew a circle of journalists from all around the world.

Thus, it's no surprise that Pastor Arne pays attention to sites such as this one -- Great Fire Wall of China.

As you will see when you visit, the purpose of the site is to trace signals to servers and see which web pages are blocked by the authorities in China and which ones are not. This, my friends, is a timely idea.

It appears that GetReligion.org is not an approved site, while many of the sites that we cover -- CNN.com and The New York Times leap to mind -- are fine and dandy. It is also interesting to note that the mucho-diverse Beliefnet.com is blocked, while our very progressive friends at TheRevealer.org are approved. Now that's interesting.

So, GetReligion readers, try out some other symbolic religion, news and religion news sites and tell us what you find out. Fjeldstad is interested in finding out if this Great Fire Wall of China site is dependable or not.

Type, type like the wind. Then click.


Please respect our Commenting Policy