As The Internet progresses and adapts, it provides us with new ways of interacting. It gives us a voice. The Internet is also unusual in that rather than having hubs where everything is controlled, it largely abdicates control. No one owns The Internet.

My argument is that this provides a new analogy for God. The Internet God accommodates to an absolute truth or a relative truth.  The Internet God can transcend geography and national boundaries. It can handle specifics and generalities, emotion, intellect, love and hate.

In one sense, this is simply to restate the old addage that God is Man. But the more I think about the Internet as a metaphor for God, the more it seems to reward my attention. Perhaps in the future we will look back at the arrival of The Internet not so much as a technological achievement as a contribution to philosophical and religious thought.

The birth of The Internet may come to be seen not just for its scientific and sociological importance but also as a moment in history when our understanding of the world, and our place in it, shifted.

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At the end of the week, I realised that I had not been exposed to a single advertisement. And this freedom from advertising made me think about the effect of advertising on my day to day consciousness.

How much am I allowing myself space for my own thoughts? Advertising is pervasive. There is television, radio, billboards and now The Internet – all impinging on my space to think freely.

Would The Internet be more Godly without ads? I don’t know. I argue in my essay on The Internet is God site that most religions see God as fully involved in the day to day world. This has to include seeing the market place as a place of worship too and a place where honesty and integrity should be practised all the more.

Nevertheless, it’s nice to retreat sometimes from commerce too. And may be I should try to restrict my exposure to persuasion to some extent. I could make a start by unsubscribing from newsletters that do not offer me value and only try to sell to me.  And I should perhaps escape from my computer or mobile phone more often even though God, if he or she exists, will be on the web and on the phone too.

I am indebted to my partner in this project, Tasos Alvas, who not only read the initial essay but has guided the process of designing the site and making the idea of community involvement a possibility. The site would never have got off the ground without his analysis and design skills mixed with his understanding, patience and common sense!