It seems innocuous enough: The Bible Society in Australia converts Scripture into audio files, e-mails, and text-message bursts: “In da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth. Da earth waz barren, wit no 4m of life.” But now that the holy writ is digital, portable, and deletable, how should we treat it?

Some denominations believe in treating e-Bibles—and the gizmos that host them—as carefully as the print versions. “If someone uses their iPod exclusively for sacred purposes,” says a Jesuit priest at Chicago’s Loyola University, “then it’s a sacramental object that needs to be buried or burned when it wears out.” But feel free to delete digitized Scripture on a daily basis. “The file itself is just a file,” adds Daffron, who erases the readings he receives on his multi-use BlackBerry guilt-free.

Jews also believe that the Bible prohibits destroying the readable name of God, although it’s not that simple in an electronic world. “It depends on whether the digital grooves or tiny dots that the computer translates into Torah can be considered letters,” says Joel Roth, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary. “If you say they aren’t, then what about the Old Testament in Braille?

Most protestant evangelicals see e-Bibles as mere vessels for God rather than holy objects. “There’s not the same sense of investing the object with sanctity,” says Lauren Winner, an assistant professor at Duke Divinity School. “Evangelicals will use whatever helps squeeze religion into the cracks of modern life.”