Features - Spiritual Small Talk

Bringing Faith to the Digital Age: Patheos and Prayables

When we look for answers that go beyond pure faith, it’s nice to know there’s a reliable source to turn to. Prayables is very proud to introduce a new partner: Patheos.com. Help us welcome them to our community!

Patheos.com was launched in 2009 with the vision of becoming the world’s best online destination to engage in the global dialogue on religion and spirituality.  Less than two years after going live, the site attracts more than a half-million visitors each month, and it’s doubling in size every few months – proof that even in our fast-paced culture, people want and need a place to learn about the world’s religions, and reflect on their faith.

Patheos has one of the Web’s best publicly available religion libraries, with more than 100 faiths represented (and more being added each month). It takes education very seriously – one of the most popular features on the site is an interactive tool that allows users to compare up to three religions side-by-side – and the site’s resources are used in middle school classrooms to confirmation classes to college and seminary campuses.

Religious leaders, authors, professors and experts also use Patheos to build their public profiles and engage their audiences in the digital world. The Patheos Experts Program allows religion and spirituality experts to create their own microsite on Patheos, giving them the ability to publicize their writing or speaking events, find new audiences for their message and expand their worship communities, and take advantage of publication opportunities with Patheos and its partners.

Patheos takes a serious approach to interfaith dialogue and religious pluralism. Rather than portraying the world’s faiths as “different paths up the same mountain,” the site encourages its various faith portals to engage in honest, respectful dialogue. The world’s major religions are represented by dynamic portals, where bloggers and columnists write daily on faith issues.

Finally, Patheos is designed to cast a wider net and appeal to the “seeker” audience – those who feel a spiritual pull in their lives, but have not committed to a set practice. Site features like the Patheos Book Club and Soul Secret engage these web visitors in a conversation on faith and spirituality matters, which hopefully leads them into the rest of the site for resources to advance their spiritual journey.

Prayables, this multi-faith group of inspirational women, and Patheos, an online resource of community and collective knowledge, are working side-by-side in bringing spiritual words, advice and prayer to faith-seekers across the Internet. Join us, read the Prayables prayer blog on Patheos and help us spread the message of spirituality and faith.