.church
 | |
| Introduced | 2014 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Generic top-level domain |
| Status | Approved |
| Registry | Donuts (corporation) |
| Intended use | Sites intended for churches and affiliations. |
| Actual use | Began to be available for use in 2014 |
| Website | Dotchurch |
The domain name church is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It comes from the common name church and is used by churches, congregations, ministries of religion, and entities who deal with them. The church domain was entered into the DNS root on May 15, 2014.[1] Holly Fileds, LLC c/o Donuts (corporation) is the only known Internet domain name registry acting as the official technical administrator of the .church TLD.[2][3] It is required by ICANN to sell names via registrars such as Godaddy, Network Solutions and Web.com.[4] This gTLD was approved by ICANN on 06 Feb 2014.
The purpose of this domain is to guarantee a domain name space for churches and related organizations as defined by the religious community. The church TLD allows users to intuitively recognize a Web site run by a church or its affiliations. Since it appears as a type of third-party certification, the Web sites of churches using this name space can assure its validity to visitors.
See also
References
- ↑ "Registry Listing". ICANN News. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
- ↑ "Delegation Record for .CHURCH". ICANN News. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
- ↑ ".church Registry Agreement". ICANN News. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
- ↑ "Donuts Accredited Registrars". Donuts (corporation) News. Retrieved 2015-02-18.