This week's online religious reads raise questions about "biblical standards for marriage" (they might surprise some readers), whether the Internet is a blessing or curse when it comes to spirituality, the growth in the global middle class and its implications for social justice.

Esther J. Hamori, an associate professor of Hebrew Bible at Union Theological Seminary in New York, argues that a careful reading of what's often called the Old Testament yields some surprises about marriages and divine attitudes toward them.

"While the traditional view is that the Bible sets standards, and cultures either follow these standards or don't, the Bible itself shows us that cultural norms and biblical positions shifted in tandem," she writes in The Huffington Post.

This does not mean that anything goes; it's simply what we see in the biblical texts themselves. It does not mean that there are no standards; there were always incest taboos, for example, but what counts as incest is culturally dictated, and our society does not embrace many biblical perspectives on this (e.g., the ideal of marrying one's first cousin). It does not mean that God is a pushover; it shows, if anything, a God who will engage people in the world in which they live.

The marriage between the Internet and spirituality looks like it's going to last, according to the Rev. Paul Raushenbush, formerly of Princeton University and now religion editor of The Huffington Post. In a lecture recounted in The Chautauquan Daily, he observed:

In 2000, 21 percent of Internet users went online to find religious or spiritual information; in 2001, the percentage jumped to 25; and by 2004, 64 percent of Internet users were utilizing the Web to discover information about religion.

According to a poll administered by Pew Research Center in 2011, 79 percent of religiously active Americans use the Internet. Ninety-three percent of online community members said the Internet helps them stay informed about social issues.

And speaking of social issues, the middle class, threatened some say in the United States, may be growing from a global standpoint.

The National Intelligence Council projects that poverty "will be virtually eliminated by 2030" and the global middle class will grow to 2 billion people, according to an Associated Press story. What are the implications?

Governance will be increasingly difficult in countries with rising incomes . . . . middle-class people have middle-class values and aspirations for greater individual empowerment and are now armed with social media and other technological tools to bring that about, including the overthrow of repressive governments," an official said.

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