THEY may be the younger generation - generally better educated and more tech-savvy.

Yet when it comes to religious beliefs, taking a technological leap of faith is out of the question, at least for now.

With today's Internet age, online memorial halls and prayer websites have virtually found their way into the lifestyles of Buddhists in China and Taiwan.

According to a recent report on AsiaOne, several websites, as well as thousands of online memorial halls, have been dedicated to ancestor worship in the two countries.

Locally, most young believers of the faith, however, are not ready to accept this new idea.

Out of seven young Buddhists my paper spoke to, six are against such a means of paying respects.

One main reason, they said, was that it seems insincere. Undergraduate Kelvin Tay explained: "It isn't respectful in the first place to pay respects on the Internet. It just isn't feasible."

The 25-year-old, who was born a Buddhist, added: "It isn't like paying your bills online.

"Praying is more about sincerity than convenience."

Echoing the same sentiments, operations manager Bryan Long said that it is all about the effort.

Each year, during the Hungry Ghosts Festival - which falls on Friday this year - Mr Long, 26, would wake up at 6am to prepare for the day.

After buying fruit and paper offerings, which amount to about $150, he would meet members of his extended family to pay respects to their ancestors at a temple.

He added: "I believe that most Singaporeans are used to the traditional and more conservative way of praying to ancestors."

With the virtual services, users can click on different icons to light incense or even offer a simple bouquet of flowers.

Within seconds, a virtual altar with the offerings will be laid out, as in an actual ritual.

A check with three of the websites based in China and Taiwan revealed that the service is free.

Thekchen Choling, Singapore's first Tibetan Buddhist temple, is the only one here that offers such virtual ancestor worship on its website.

The temple set up the virtual- prayer service in June last year.

Another website, set up by Ji Le Memorial Park in 2001, has since closed due to lack of usage.

According to Mr Richard Pang, 51, executive director of Thekchen Choling at Beatty Lane, there are at least 500 visitors to the online prayer service each month.

This number accounts for 25 per cent of the website's monthly visitorship.

Like the other websites, the service is free.

Mr Pang added: "For whatever reason they are not able to go to the temples, they can just offer their prayers with the click of a button."

Yet despite the less-than-enthusiastic response from young believers, some are confident that the trend will take root in Singapore.

Ms Claris Lim, 25, an account officer, said: "As long as you have the heart, it really doesn't matter where you go to pray."

calyang@sph.com.sg