Murdoch Gets Religion

News Corp. (NWS Quote) has found religion online.

Rupert Murdoch's global media empire announced Tuesday that it has acquired Beliefnet, the largest faith and spirituality information site on the Web, for an undisclosed sum.

Beliefnet will become part of Fox Digital Media, which consists mostly of News Corp.'s popular social networking site, MySpace. The move looks like part of News Corp.'s efforts to expand its vast media reach onto the Internet, where Wall Street sees the best growth opportunities for media conglomerates.

"Beliefnet has garnered respect for its commitment to quality, editorial strength and unbiased approach to faith and spirituality from a broad range of consumers, religious and political leaders, journalists and advertisers," said Fox Digital Media President Don Fawcett in a press release. "Fox's goal is to leverage these characteristics across a broader media canvas and provide programming, production, advertising sales, technology and marketing expertise that will enhance an already terrific product in a rapidly growing market."

Faith and spirituality content is a growing business as consumers look for deeper meaning in their lives. News Corp. cited the Pew Internet Project as saying that over 82 million Americans and 64% of all Internet users look to the Web for faith-related matters.

Moreover, a division of Marketresearch.com put the demand for religious and spiritually oriented materials like books, DVDs, software, etc. at well beyond $8 billion, News Corp. said.