The Archbishop of York has warned that the Internet could be creating "a society without a soul".

Dr David Hope who has written that the Internet has the "potential for evil" told the Evening Press he was concerned the new technology could undermine interpersonal relationships which are the "fabric of society".

But the Archbishop, who launched his own Bishopthorpe Palace website earlier this year, added: "In the Internet we have a hugely fascinating tool, and certainly in terms of education and the dissemination of education it's a cause for great excitement."

Dr Hope told the magazine of the Conservative Christian Fellowship that the World Wide Web has "the potential for destroying ourselves", adding: "This technology is something that could ultimately devour us."

In his article, to be published in a fortnight, he said: "The danger is in having all this wizardry in individual homes which people never leave and where there is, as a result, no social interaction.

"Like all these developments there is that which has the potential for good, and that which has the potential for evil. There is in the Internet the potential for destroying ourselves."

Dr Hope added: "I fear that we are becoming a nation which simply sits in front of a television screen and orders its lives at the press of a button or mouse.

"You can live your whole life and do almost everything from there shopping, film viewing if you choose. That has serious implications."

He added: "One of the cautions is that I find increasingly lonely people, people on their own, surfing the net.

"One is concerned that we are becoming a society without a soul.

"The interactions of society are not helped by being able to do almost everything from an armchair.

"Interpersonal relationships are the fabric of society. People meet and talk and exchange views in a face-to-face way."

The Archbishop's website is at www.bishopthorpepalace.co.uk

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