A number of recent news stories address the internet’s effect on religion and the relationship between the two. Did one of those specific incidents spark this novel?

DAN DOWHAL: The original concept actually came to me quite a while ago, after reading about Rev. Jim Jones and the Jonestown massacre. At that time the internet was barely a fetus. The story was always meant to be, first and foremost, a study in power and mass manipulation. By the time this idea pushed its way to the top of my pile, screaming to be written, the world, and me personally, had been dramatically and irrevocably transformed by the internet revolution. So that ended up playing a huge part in the book.

Your character Sky Fisher leads a protest march against the government’s decision to deny Phasmatians status as a church on the grounds that the Phasmatian religion exists only on the internet, to which he counters, “My world is real, too!” Do you think on-line communities are much different from ones that exist in the “real” world?

DOWHAL: In the way they transcend space and time, and facilitate access to information, online communities are radically different. Once we get beyond the technology, however, those communities, like all others, are still populated by self-interested individuals who have trouble getting beyond their stomachs, groins, and egos. People are people, for better or for worse.

Can’t something like Second Life offer a “real” experience?

DOWHAL: All virtual reality scenarios can stimulate a palpable and profound emotional response from their users—that’s why VR has come into use as a tool for treating phobias, for example. But even though I understand the need to periodically escape from it, I do think a lot of online users need to immerse themselves more completely into their first life.

Another character in your book, Brad, says many positive things about the role of religion in general and the good which people can gain from the world’s various religions, but doesn’t your book also offer a pointed critique of religion, and in particular, of unthinking devotion to a religious leader or a religious text?

DOWHAL: I also can’t abide unthinking devotion to a political leader spouting clichéd slogans, but I still have faith in democracy. Or unthinking devotion to a professor regurgitating hackneyed truisms, but I still believe in education. There’s a danger in becoming too cynical, isn’t there? Every one of us has the capacity to open our minds to larger possibilities. If, as a writer, I can make the reader stop and think, then I will have done my job.

What role do you see religion playing in the world today?

DOWHAL: Religion’s job is not necessarily to play a role in the world outside, but to transform the individual within. As a consequence, the world can benefit from more enlightened, tolerant, caring, and motivated individuals. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen all too often, it all suffers from the destructive power of misguided zealots.

Does the negative outweigh the positive?

DOWHAL: If you look around at all the ignorance, selfishness, and intolerance out there, it sure seems that way sometimes. But I choose to think it balances out—it’s all a question of where you place the fulcrum.

Do you think people respond in an unthinking or uncritical way to what they find on the internet, just as they might be gullible to religious messages?

DOWHAL: Gosh, you mean the Queen isn’t carrying Elvis’s alien baby? I think anyone with a modicum of intelligence quickly learns to separate the wheat from the chaff, although there sure is enough bile and crap out there. People generally believe what they want to anyway. The internet represents the democratization of information, and in a democracy, while you can’t always agree with what’s being said, you have to grant the right to an opinion.

When your characters Brad, Stan, and Fisher set out to design the Phasmatian religion, they deliberately target a younger demographic than traditional religions usually appeal to, successfully tapping into a real spiritual void amongst the young which the Phasmatian site helps to fill. Where is the line between virtual and real? Do you think younger people today feel a spiritual hunger?

DOWHAL: More like a spiritual vacuum, and it didn’t start with the current generation. But I’ll be honest, I don’t really know where it’s all heading. In my novel, I was just speculating, not prognosticating. It’s a complex question, and it’s always dangerous to generalize. I do find it disturbing that so many kids today have a tendency to lead very shallow lives, despite the amount of information they consume, and to follow others blindly. I also find it hard to believe, as some people claim, that humanity has evolved beyond the need for religion, or at least a spiritual life.

Is Skyfisher really a blueprint? Could some new religion arise in cyberspace to attract a significant number of adherents?

DOWHAL: Everything in the book is grounded in technical fact, so I think it’s certainly possible. It would depend to a large extent on how any new religion was packaged and presented. However, you would never be able to make it catch on. The beauty of viral trends, much to the chagrin of ad agencies, is that you can ride the wave, but you can’t really cause it ... or predict it, for that matter.

In the character Sky Fisher, a megalomaniac craving adulation and power, you certainly demonstrate how power tends to corrupt and how absolute power can corrupt someone absolutely. Yet he remains a perplexing character, at times seeming to have lost his grip on reality but still able to function and control a complex organization. Is this a larger warning on your part?

DOWHAL: What I was striving for, most of all, was to tell a good story. An engaging villain helps in that regard, especially if he resonates with the reader. Tyrants, petty and otherwise, have been with us from the beginning, and there’s certainly no shortage of them today. Still, that just creates an opportunity for the heroes, including the reluctant ones.