Patheos

Name	Patheos
Url	www.patheos.com
Alexa	42,935 ()
Type	Religion
Language	English
Registration	Optional
Owner	Patheos, Inc.
Author	Leo and Cathie Brunnick
Launch date	September 2008
Current status	Active
Slogan	Balanced Views of Religion and Spirituality

Patheos is a website focused on providing balanced information about various religions.

History

Patheos was founded in 2008 by Leo and Cathie Brunnick, both web technology professionals and residents of Denver, Colorado. Leo, a non-practicing Catholic, and Cathie, a Lutheran-turned-Evangelical, started the project the week they were married as they tried to blend their families.

Having living among various faiths they amassed hundreds of essays and works from around 200 scholars into a "religion library" that they wanted to become the "WebMD of religion and spirituality." As a start-up, early employees included religious-studies scholars.

Content

The site features portals with material on Buddhists, Catholics, evangelicals, Hindus, mainline Protestants, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Pagans, and over 50 belief systems.

Patheos tries to stand on middle ground between academia (which is credible, yet dry), popular media (which is consumable, yet shallow), and faith sites (which are passionate, yet biased). Founder Leo Brunnick called it "the ESPN of Religion."

Beliefnet founder Steven Waldman observed that Patheos is used for learning about other religions, while people use Beliefnet to explain their own religion. It was also ranked by a writer for the Buxton Initiative, a nonprofit supporter of interfaith dialogue, as the seventh top website on Islam, calling it "very objective" and "sort of a Wikipedia just on religion."

In mid-2010, Patheos invited many religious figures and scholars to contribute to a series on the future of religions. This has attracted much attention and increased web-traffic from 100,000 visitors per month to 250,000.

Notes

External links

Official website

Ecumenical Category:Internet properties established in 2008 Category:Religious websites

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