iBible

This is hilarious!




Thanks to Locusts & Honey for sharing it!

Virtual church

It has its own economy, politicians campaign there, and now religion is finding its way into Second Life, the computer game that allows users to create and control an avatar, or an icon that represents a character, in an idealized virtual world.

In a U.S.A Today article written this spring, a Muslim man reported directing his avatar to pray and than praying at the same time. There are both mainstream religious groups and groups for spiritual seekers and pagans, and a small but growing number of Second Life's 8 million members send their avatars to a religious service. Avatars can visit the Church of Burgertime and Church of Elvis in Second Life (both an imitation and escape from real life) as well as real religious communities with virtual campuses for worship.

They can also visit the Sistine Chapel and fly (yes, Avatars can fly) for a close up view of Michelangelo's ceiling, thanks to Steven J. Taylor, director of academic computing at Vassar College. Taylor created the virtual Sistine Chapel to help students learn about art and architecture, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Some Christians particularly see Second Life as a place to evangelize to the people that control their avatars. According to an L.A. Times article (no longer available online), LifeChurch.tv, based in Oklahoma City in real life, broadcast its real Easter service through its Second Life campus, and its members engage fellow avatars in religious discussions.

Not to be left behind by evangelical churches, an academic recently wrote in the Rome-based Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica that Catholics should view Second Life as a place of evangelization, even though sexuality is more common than spirituality in the virtual world.

"Deep down, the digital world can be considered, in its way, mission territory," Antonio Spadaro wrote, according to Reuters. "Second Life is somewhere where the opportunity to meet people and to grow should not be missed, therefore, any initiative that can inspire the residents in a positive way should be considered opportune."

In New World Notes (see more picture at the link), Wagner James Au reported on a Catholic Mass held in Second Life, attended by people of various faiths--virtual interfaith dialogue. The Mass was held by a layperson and therefore ended before Communion with a Q&A session.

Virtual Eucharist? Second Life worship can't replace the real thing. Francis Maier, chancellor of the Denver archdiocese and an avid video gamer, told the L.A. Times that it just can't compare either. ''It's like online sex -- it's satisfying in a weird way, I suppose...but the real thing is so much better, why would you want to waste your time on it?" he said.