Webupon

So I’ve been on the internet lately. A lot. And what I’ve been seeing is kind of strange. I feel a little like Jane Goodall watching a bunch of apes. Over the next few weeks, I’ve decided to chronicle my travels over the web in a Dr. Explorer kind of style. Today’s topic; forum discussions.

See, on almost every forum I’ve dropped into, there has been at least one discussion pertaining to religion. They invariably dissolve into two groups; one group of people who are essentially saying “god sucks” and one group saying “god rocks”. Every single one of the people in the discussions has no intent of changing their opinions, and eventually they all end up with the groups just insulting each other. Every. Single. Time. It’s never anything fancy, either. It’s always just “no god” versus “christian god”. Well, I think it’s about time for a change.

From now on, instead of the same old arguments, I say that we cut out the “god” group altogether. No offense to that side of the fence, but they’re less likely to change their faith then any others. For the rest of the argument crowd, here’s the game: instead of bantering back and forth about your dislike for god, make up your own!

I would love to see a Darwinian religious system on the internet. Every time a religious discussion comes up, the participants take the opportunity to flesh out the tenants of their own personal religion. Every now and then, people switch their beliefs around when they run into one that works better for them. As the following for smaller groups grows and spreads across forums and chat rooms, the exposure to the new systems grows as well. Eventually, we’ll wind up with internet holy wars, with week-long debates and arguments. Casualties will be lower then in real holy wars, conversions will actually be effective, and anyone who want’s out can always just go somewhere else.

Personally, I’d like to see a religion about a giant space spider that eats planets and spins a cosmic web around Earth to keep the evil bug-demons from devouring us whole. But that’s just me.