The contact hypothesis
From the San Francisco Chronicle, a good-news story about the internet. Back in 1954, a Harvard psychologist named Gordon Allport suggested that person-to-person contact could reduce prejudice. But the contact had to happen in just the right way —
The contact must be pleasant, it must be fairly intimate and not casual, the participants need to perceive they are of equal status, and it must involve cooperation between groups working toward a mutually agreed goal.
A researcher in Israel, Dr. Amichai-Hamburger, is convinced that properly established online interactions can provide exactly this kind of contact. He points out that people are relaxed when they're using their computers at home.
Online cooperation is very common, a message can't hurt you physically, and with the right kinds of tools and a belief that a common goal is possible, I can imagine using the internet to make progress in many conflict-torn situations. Use of an avatar allows people to feel “safe” and to speak freely.
When it comes to deep-seated religious prejudices, the kinds of feelings that make people murder others because they believe the others are defiling the earth, I'm not sure how much online contact will help. It can't hurt, certainly, and it's good to have a story about online communications that isn't negative.