Supplication Application

A Note to God

For eons, people have reached out to God with prayers and supplications. Soon they might be able to use their iPhones.

Fair Oaks, Calif., teenager Allen Wright thought up an application for the Apple iPhone called “A Note to God.”

It lets iPhone users send prayers into cyberspace and read the prayers of others. The messages are stored in a database, and users remain anonymous.

Religious scholars welcomed the concept, although one offered a note of caution.

The Rev. James Murphy, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, agreed the iPhone app “could be a high-tech form of prayer and an authentic way to express our desires to God.”

“There is in each one of us the need to communicate with the divine and to reach the transcendent,” he said.

But he cautioned would-be users to question their motivations.

“Prayer is direct to God, and God should be the primary motive,” he said. “If the motive is to be seen by others, be careful. There’s a sense in which prayer is private.”

He said whatever the form, prayers are heard. “God will hear it,” he said. “You don’t have to have his e-mail address.”