The Pew Research Center said: We believe this is the first extensive quantitative effort to discover how churches and synagogues in the United States use the Internet. Over 1,300 congregations responded to an email from the Pew Internet & American Life Project and filled out an online survey that asked how they built and use their Web sites, how congregations and leaders use email, and whether their use of Internet tools has helped the spiritual and everyday life of their members. This is not a representative sample of all the congregations in the United States. However, the wide-ranging and extensive responses of congregations to this survey suggest that the Internet has become a vital force in many faith communities.