Pedersen's Passion

In the early days of Christianity confessions very a public affair which meant that they were done in the in front of the whole congregation. Liturgically the private confessions - which are the ones with which we are most familiar with today - are of a later date.

But with the emerge of the internet the public confessions now have a new revival. Or have they?

The evangelical network "Life Church" now makes it possible to confess your sins online. On the website www.mysecret.tv you can not alone confess your sins, but also make them available to the whole internet.

On the site you can browse sins by category. Choose between "addictions", "adultery", "lying" and a lot of other vices. In line with good American political correctness you also get parental warnings: These sins may contain adult material and are only for person above 18 years of age.

But wait a minute! Have the evangelicals become afraid of using the word "sin"?! The site is called "my secrets", and what I have termed sins above are indeed only called "secrets".

But the users of the site have no doubt: their actions are sins. This one can read from the many testimonials on the site.

The site itself does not label all these secrets as sins and indeed the site does not seem to be very religious. Except for the users?

Is the site just a place for voyeurs and exhibitionists or is it a place of confession?

What to think of this kind of public confessions?