Is Virtual Reality a new religion?

So many people use the internet today and interact with all cultures and classes and religions. Its as if its breaking down barriers and letting people communicate remotely, a new global religion, an equaliser which has the possibility of great power.
But then again is it just blind faith that the internet actually exists as you cannot touch it or smell it or taste it, just like the idol of any religion.
Its just an array of dots on a screen.

Thought this was interesting
www.nettime.org...

Interesting point of veiw. I don't agree with it, but it is interesting to read.

Well written paper.

Everytime a new social phemonena comes out somone starts calling it a new religion
I remember jogging getting the same attention about 15 years ago.

There is a difference between a 'community' and a religion, and in the end is the net even a community? There isn't the responsibility towards each other that is a building block of a community.

So its striking out in a lot of areas. Despite looking like a community or a religion it meets none of the criteria to give it legitmacy.

It is not a religion, it is a culture. Sure it breaks down the barriers that humans have set during the course of history, but there is not a common idol. The web is so vast, that one can not say that it has a specific theology or ideal behind it.
I agree, whenever a new social craze hits the seen, it is automatically compared to a religion.

Very good find Lexus Panther--makes me look at the internet from a new perspective.

still floating around in my head