At a Sunday morning Mass in Dallas, Texas, Bryan pulled out his BlackBerry Curve to send a text message. Bryan is a physician, but he wasn’t hiding his 8310 in his lap so he could communicate with the office. He wanted to let a friend, who was sitting a few pews up from him, know that the preacher’s last comment was directed at him.  

 

“It was kind of like passing an electronic note,” Bryan said. Bryan also texts his teenage son during services to tell him to stop talking. 

 

Eric of North Carolina has perfected hiding his BlackBerry 8703e behind his church program while ushering. “I’m a very religious person. I don’t see there being anything wrong with using my BlackBerry in church. I always put it down during prayer times,” Eric said in an e-mail sent from his Alltel BlackBerry. Steve of Manhattan admits to having his checked his SMS Inbox for Yankees scores during an evening service at his synagogue. 

 

If you don’t believe the culprits themselves, there’s data to back it up. According to a survey conducted by AOL, 12 percent of people who e-mail from portable devices admit to checking e-mail in church. But are the religious leaders aware of the in-service texting and e-mailing? LAPTOP spoke with three religious leaders in New York City to find out how technology is affecting their congregations and services.