Over the past year, campaigns for internet censorship and intelligent design have not exactly helped foster an image of religion--and in particular the Christian faith--as a progressive force in technological advancement.

But it was not always thus.

Case in point: the world's first telephone book. Which, truth to tell, was just a telephone page, listing everyone who had a telephone connection in New Haven, Connecticut.

Loke closely and you'll see that the first person listed is the Rev. John E. Todd, pastor of the New Haven Church of the Redeemer. This prime page space was not given to Todd out of respect for his pastoral office. It's actually a nod to one of the weird facts of telephone history: for a while the good Reverend was the only person in the city willing to get one.

Really. The company distributed 1,000 flyers and was rewarded with only one subscriber, the aforementioned Rev. Todd. Thus encouraged the entrepreneurs pressed on, adding some doctors, a few dry goods merchants, a couple of stables (the transportation industry!) and the police. Cutting-edge journalists--the Yale News and the New Haven Register--and even a lawyer also got into the act.

The world's first commercial dedicated telephone exchange would be sustainable after all.

But it might have never happened if a forward-thinking pastor hadn't had pledged his faith in the future of an untried technology. Instead of imploding as Bell's folly, by March 1st, the phone company would have enough subscribers that it could afford to have operators make connections all night.

So remember--the next time you make a 3 a.m. booty call or phone a 1-900 sex chat, you can thank the Church of the Redeemer.