Internet Religions

So far, I've tried to discuss resources for real-world internets, their impact, and how religious faithful use the internet within their religion. Let's turn left. Since the incredible rise in popularity of the internet over the past 20 years, the internet has regularly been the medium of choice for innovative satirists and religiously chosen alike. This has led to the creation of a multitude of ironic irreligions (or maybe religions, we'll come back to that later) which have a 20th-century basis. The following are likely the most popular:

• There's very rarely a savvy internet user today who is unfamiliar with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Created and inspired by only Bobby Henderson's website, the Church of the FSM has touched many with His Noodly Appendage. Lampooning creationism, natural selection and popular religion in a multitude of hilarious ways, Pastafarianism has spread far and wide over the course of the net, as well as the real world. One can purchase the Icthys-fish-inspired logo on a sticker for mounting on one's bumper for the low price of only $5.49.
  
  
• Possibly one of the oldest internet religions is that of the Invisible Pink Unicorn, which started in 1990 on the Usenet newsgroup for Atheists. The primary dogma for the IPU seems to be that She is invisble, yet pink; let alone a mythological creature. The image at the right is not the IPU logo, but is, in fact, my favorite depiction of the Goddess.
  
  
• A smaller online religion, Matrixism claims to have its roots in a series of speeches given in 1911 by Abdul Baha, actual founder of the Bahá'í Faith. Its sacred texts are the films and associated matirals of The Matrix franchise by the Wachowski brothers. The organizations website claims to have attracted nearly 2000 members who follow The Path of the One.
  
  
• Jediism began in its most recent incarnation sometime in 2001. You can read all about it on one of the dozens of sites, such as The Church of Jediism or The Temple of the Jedi Order, made to honor the new phenomonon, mostly prominent in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Most notably seen through a series of e-mails urging people to come forward on their census polls, the religion has attracted tens of thousands of followers.
  
  
• The Church of the SubGenius started in the real world with the SubGenius Pamphlet #1 in 1979. Not truly an internet religion, it has however used the internet to find rebirth and spread its popularity sometime in the early '90s, also in newsgroups. Chaos-driven in nature, church member Paul Reubens allegedly featured a picture of "Bob" (pictured) in every episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse.
  

So what can we draw from this? Should we discount these as atheistic jokes and not give them a second thought? I don't think so.

These groups return to atheists a level of community that is usually denied them by being an atheist. The Church (any denomonation) is vastly more than a religious establishment in most of the world, and in a great deal of America. The Church brings a community together, different than that of the workplace or school. An atheist has this denied to him, and must seek his community elsewhere. Socially speaking, these groups help provide a group and sense of unity for non-practitioners of major faiths. To help do that is the very reason why I became a minister. As community is such a vital element of the church, I don't see enough of a reason to label them as less than a religion.

Or, maybe its just because like to make atheistic jokes.