The critical issue at hand is that the Web is vast, global and the "bad" is no longer a subjective issue. So its use by vulnerable children should be monitored. The community in New Jersey is exercising its voice on matters of morality.

They should be commended for doing so whether we agree or disagree with the policy. As orthodox Jews, this community is saying that their standard is different and does not have a place for the trash that pollutes the mind of so many.

This is where the religious community (not government) should be.

And ultimately it is the followers of that religion that will decide whether to belong. Hence, it is up to parents (again, not government) to accept or reject those guidelines as it pertains to their children.

For me, the opportunities afforded by the Internet are tremendous in terms of evangelization and communication.

Every rose has thorns but with proper pruning and care, you can preserve and present the beauty of the flower without damaging its integrity. As with all of life, the challenge for us is to use and not abuse the wonders that are around us.

FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

Armenian Church

Youth Ministries

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We should all be concerned about the potential damage of Internet pornography on our youth. The effect it can have is a real, dominant and constant threat to the positive moral and social attitudes we try to instill in our children. This poses a great challenge to parents, educators and religious leaders alike. To deny this danger is ignoring reality.

At the same time however, the Internet is possibly the greatest blessing to education in all of history. Never before has humanity been exposed to such a vast amount of educational content, all at our very fingertips. A mere 10 years ago a fourth-grade student preparing for a history exam would need to spend hours perusing public library shelves to find what can now be Googled and retrieved in two seconds.

Furthermore, almost every segment of society has found ways to positively improve our lives via the Internet. Today our medical care institutions offer online help and the ability to order medication without waiting in pharmacy lines. Religious organizations offer material via their websites and banks enable us to pay bills electronically saving us the hassle of writing checks, licking envelopes and affixing postage.

To the leaders of that community in New Jersey I say: Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is a host of software available that can effectively block access to pornography. To deny all the benefits of the Internet because of its dark side is robbing the students of a host of important educational tools, and needlessly complicates people's lives.

A paramount Jewish concept is to harness all that is in our world for positive purposes. The Internet is not an exception.

RABBI SIMCHA BACKMAN

Chabad Jewish Center

King David, under inspiration of God, penned this personal, although universal directive: "I will set before my eyes no vile thing" (Psalm 101:3). This Old Testament saint put into words what the current rabbis of this Orthodox community are helping their people achieve. On the radio, Rabbi Moshe Weisberg said his concerns were for the kids, citing a study that 80% of America's youth inadvertently experience vile pornography by the time they barely hit their teen years, and the primary conduit is the Web.

Surely, this is true. When pornographers first got their perversion into cyberspace, they would subtly pique adults' prurient interests and lure them deeper by requiring personal information and credit card numbers.

They still want these today, but now an unsuspecting child surfer can run a Google for some otherwise legitimate homework and suddenly be surprised by blatant, grossly explicit sights and sounds that people with any genuine moral fiber would find seriously offensive.

If parents are willing to abide school rules, then kids will be safeguarded. I think the expulsion rule will likely never be tested because families have embraced a healthy model, and the adults will not want to violate community trust.

There are exceptions being made for those needing Internet for work, but they're keeping the kids offline. I applaud the unity being displayed, and the willingness to be proactive.

Kids become adults fast enough; the goal is to get them there in all ways healthy!

America's Christian community has also felt the need for protection and there is now plenty of Christian filtering software, including accountability software for adults who think they may be more easily tempted by seductive visuals. The public net may have flushed its morals, but that doesn't mean conscientious people need to be helplessly swept into its sewer.

THE REV. BRYAN GRIEM

Senior Pastor

Light On The Corner

Montrose

A Jewish woman I know told me that what is going on in that Jewish community is tantamount to a book-burning, or the throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There is no question that the Internet can represent a "danger" to our children who happen to find porno on a website. But so does automobile travel, and so does flying in airplanes. (Have you noticed? People die every year in both of those inventions.)

My own particular gripe at that conservative Jewish community's stance is the lack of individual choice each member now has. Ever since the human race was tossed out of the Garden of Eden we have had to make choices, and I personally believe that God wants it that way! Each of us is made in God's image, and that God gave us a brain to exercise freedom of choice. Sometimes we make good choices and sometimes we make bad choices. But our ability to choose is God-given, and to accept "group think" is to abdicate what it means to be made in God's image.

There's an old joke about Tarzan and Jane. After a particularly trying day, Tarzan wearily says to Jane, "It's a jungle out there!"

So can the Internet be a "jungle" -- but it can also be a tremendous source of useful information, and to deny the children of that community the wealth that is at their fingertips comes close to teaching them that the world is flat.

THE REV. C.L. "SKIP" LINDEMAN

Congregational Church of the Lighted Window

United Church of Christ

La Cañada Flintridge

We do not see this as a religious issue.

As Baha'is we are taught to "walk the mystical path with practical feet." However, how a family chooses to raise their children in these times can be challenging. Many enjoyable and informative things can be found on the Web but there is also a "dark side," with corruptive, violent and sexually implicit content and online chat rooms that attract predators.

As parents we must supervise our children until they develop increasing levels of maturity. Without that maturity anything can happen.

Baha'i family life involves respect for each family member. The future will bring about new technological innovations (like the Internet of today or the television of yesteryear) and along with it will come moral and ethical questions that will need to be addressed.

It is a policy of many private schools, that their students may not watch TV, videos or even use a computer, until a certain age, to do so could mean expulsion.

BARBARA CRAMER

Secretary

Baha'i Faith

Glendale

I appreciate the Lakewood Orthodox Jewish community's concern for their children.

Asking families to completely eliminate Internet access from their homes may be a bit extreme.

But without a doubt it's totally effective at blocking out inappropriate material. It may inconvenience the parents, but then most of us will make sacrifices to protect our children.

Are there less severe alternatives?

Probably. The schools could provide families with Internet filtering software. They could require that students use the Internet only while under direct parental supervision. But however they address the problem, the Lakewood Jewish community must trust its parents to willingly comply. And that brings us to the heart of the issue. It's an issue of the heart.

Jesus said, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders." (Matthew 15:19). God answers this problem with a wonderful promise: "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it" (Jeremiah 31:33). People of faith can adopt all kinds of rules, but our behavior will not change unless there is a change in our hearts.

So let's seek God from the heart, and trust Him to direct us into proper daily conduct.

JON BARTA

Valley Baptist Church

Burbank

The Web is a tool -- a means -- by which information is passed along. It is like asking, what is the effect of a hammer on a wall. It depends on the person using it, the place of impact, type of nail and so on. The Web is a means by which good and bad information comes to us.

The critical issue at hand is that the Web is vast, global and the "bad" is no longer a subjective issue. So its use by vulnerable children should be monitored. The community in New Jersey is exercising its voice on matters of morality.

They should be commended for doing so whether we agree or disagree with the policy. As orthodox Jews, this community is saying that their standard is different and does not have a place for the trash that pollutes the mind of so many.

This is where the religious community (not government) should be.

And ultimately it is the followers of that religion that will decide whether to belong. Hence, it is up to parents (again, not government) to accept or reject those guidelines as it pertains to their children.

For me, the opportunities afforded by the Internet are tremendous in terms of evangelization and communication.

Every rose has thorns but with proper pruning and care, you can preserve and present the beauty of the flower without damaging its integrity. As with all of life, the challenge for us is to use and not abuse the wonders that are around us.

FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

Armenian Church

Youth Ministries

Bans of this kind are useless and unnecessary!

When are we going to learn that censorship in any form is unreasonable and unworkable? The Internet is one of society's greatest tools. It is a modern marvel -- if used creatively.

Parents or adult supervisors of children must take the responsibility for teaching children to use that which is of value on the Internet and, at the same time, teach them to avoid certain sites that are primarily designed for adults with weak and undisciplined minds The Internet is a good and worthy tool if used correctly. If not, it can be a waste of time. It all depends upon how it is used.

Virtually everything in our society has a right use and a wrong use. Each individual must for himself or herself decide how to use whatever it is that is designed to be used. You name it -- anything under the sun -- can be used for ill or for good. No one should decide for any adult how a certain thing can be used if such use is legal under the law. As for young people, some controls obviously are essential.

Banning something such as the Internet, however, is abject foolishness.

THE REV. THOMAS E. WITHERSPOON

Minister

Unity Church of the Valley