E-shrine

SO, I dont know how many of you are on tumblr, but there is a certain phenomenon making the rounds called an "e-shrine" blogs specifically meant to honor Gods and their specific domains. I sometimes find them to be a bit silly, not in their purpose, but in the way theyre used to show how "devout" one is.

I know of them. There is very little more ridiculous.

Religion is hardly a webpage.

Fools.

The way I see it, if you need to publicallly prove your devotion in rediculous ways, are you really devoted?

I think it says one is too lazy to get off one's a$$, get off the computer, get some exercise, go outside maybe, and perhaps engage in real piety, or real anything. The Internet is. not. real. Period. No ifs or buts.

The Internet can be a helpful tool, but it can also be horrifically destructive in a variety of ways.

It takes no sincerity at all whatever to make a webpage.

Online shrines have been around for awhile now, as far back as the 1990s. It's just an example of how so many people "live" more online than engage IRL. Plus it's no surprise this sort of thing is popular. Neopagans tend to interact predominately online (because the majority are solitary practitioners). They either don't know, don't have or don't fit in with others locally and attempt to compensate.

The problem is the internet is not an adequate substitution for IRL socializing or worship and I think in due time it will eventually run its course. In a way it's just a high-tech version of what happened in the 1970s when isolated people had to rely predominately on snail mailing memographs, 'zines and tabloid classifieds and pen paling to feel connected.