Worldwide Faith News marks first decade: One-stop site for ecumenical news
For countless clergy and other mainline Protestant computer users who keep up with ecumenical and interfaith news announcements, one of their first Web site checks is likely to be www.wfn.org—the now-ten-year-old Worldwide Faith News.
“Google links more religion news hits to WFN than any other news source but the BBC,” says George Conklin, a retired communications professor at Pacific School of Religion, who maintains WFN from his Berkeley, California, home. “The BBC is a bit bigger than us,” wryly noted Conklin, a United Church of Christ clergyman.
As the news services at United Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal and other denominational offices post their news and features on their Web sites, the stories are also posted—unedited—on WFN, making it a one-stop site for “official” ecumenical news. The 30 faith groups regularly posting their news on WFN also include Orthodox churches, the Baha’is, and Jewish and Muslim organizations.
Important elements in the Web site’s development—including the role of Martin Bailey, a former National Council of Churches communications director, and the receipt of start-up grants from Trinity Episcopal parish in New York—were described recently on the NCC Web site (www.ncccusa.org).
