You mean in terms of the community aspect of it?

I think so. I believe that it will become decentralized and turn into a social-mediaesque buffet centering around prominent individuals who have something interesting and unique to offer. There were be a great deal of 'watchers' and a number of preachers vying with eachother(which would be analogous to our artists). Instead of organizations having a following, it will be individuals. In this way I see the following of religion becoming much more merit-based, as people would only follow the preachers that are personally relevant to them.

--- but this is just me surmising from my armchair as an uninformed amateur. I study clinical psychology; not religion, theology, or sociology.

If you'll allow me to continue rambling: On the other hand, I also believe that furry itself has the potential to become something of a religion. While I don't think it will ever have a mythology, we do have our beliefs, values, mores, and even ethics that are unique to our subculture and at times can be quite dogmatic. This is because, I believe, people are drawn to furry for a very small set of reasons, and being a furry fulfills important developmental, social, and psychosexual needs. Being a furry is important to how furries define their personal history, and social & sexual identities, just as modern day religion is. As furry becomes more mainstream (and, according to all trends and my intuition, it will) I can only see the collective need-fufiillment aspect of it becoming enshrined as some sort of sacred quality, argued to be intrinsically worth respect and reverence.

On your first point about religion, I'm not sure to what extent preachers would truly become the focus – though they certainly are in religious movements most people would call "cults" – but in the past half-century or so religion has become increasingly individual-oriented, rather than community-oriented (the notable book Bowling Alone talks about this trend in US society in general). So I agree with you on the point of personal relevance. From what I can tell, megachurches are so popular today because of all the services they provide besides simply spiritual fulfillment, the personality of the pastor being just one factor.

I also agree that the furry fandom draws people by fulfilling certain needs, I'm certainly attracted to it for multiple reasons (social, artistic, sexual). I'm sure there's a master's thesis idea somewhere connecting the online popularity of the fandom among young Gen Y-ers and the need for social interaction in the Internet Age. I wouldn't say it'd become a religion though, since the very definition of religion involves the organisation of the world/universe around a certain cosmology (even modern individual-oriented "spiritual" faiths involve something like a life-force or intangible supernatural elements), and beyond sex-positivity, for the most part I don't see furries as sharing a common set of values/mores. But like I said above, if the fandom continues to fulfill social needs, then it would definitely be similar to religion's community role.

Also, what do you mean by furry becoming mainstream?

(I'm an anthropology minor btw...)

Haha! My analogy comparing religion to furry is a poor one, I'll readily grant you that. Saying "sometimes I think that Facebook is what religion will begin to look like in the late 21st century" would have been much more appropriate, as I did loose a lot in an effort to make the thought (needlessly) topical to this website.

I agree with you that it the furry fandom will not become a religion for the very points you raised. The furry fandom will never offer any coherent metaphysical account of universal phenomena (if it ever does I think I'd want out!). My extreme digression was something of a comparison between the personal significance that furry and religion have to people. It's much more than cute drawings of animal-people, but a way of getting in touch with ones wants and desires, with the self and the other..... Hence I said something of a religion, haha!

I have to admit that this post was just a silly thought that I never thought I'd be seriously expounding on. Although I'm glad you said something because I've been wanting to open a dialog with you for quite some time, Pierre! :)

It's nice to apply some social science outside of an academic setting!

Note me if you want to talk more about gendered norms or Foucauldian discursive theory, or anything else. :3