I read another of the articles in the December Issue of WIRED about studies on the effects of prayer on the sick.  The fact that intriguing relationships were found caused me to think about the implications of studies like this for suggesting that perhaps online community could have more backing from those who insist that face to face is the only way to receive purely spiritual communion.  If prayers from distant people with whom I am unaquainted can postively affect my health, how much more can communications of support from people with whom we can converse via the Net might be of truly “spiritual” value.   I needed no convincing of this,  but the analogies of prayer with online communication are interesting.