Editor and Publisher reports:

NEW YORK: Rupert Murdoch added yet another island to his media empire with the purchase of Beliefnet, the largest faith and spirituality information site on the Web, for an undisclosed sum.

The religion-centric site will become part of Fox Digital Media, which consists mostly of News Corp’s popular social networking site, MySpace. The move may be part of News Corp’s efforts to expand its reach onto the Internet, where Wall Street sees the best growth opportunities for media conglomerates.

Beliefnet has around three million unique visitors each month and a daily email newsletter that reaches nearly 11 million subscribers. The company is not affiliated with any spiritual organization or movement.

First the Wall Street Journal, now this. Still, we can sense the strategic thinking here. After a life of using media power to influence politics and business, an aging Rupert Murdoch, a man suddenly sensing the extremities of his own mortality, will now use media power to influence God. This is only logical.