The Washington Post has a write-up on religion’s increasing visibility in a virtual environment with millions of users:
In Second Life, the online virtual universe that is attracting 3.7 million users, you can light virtual candles for Shabbat, teleport to a Buddhist temple or consult the oracle for some divine guidance.
Second Life is a three-dimensional, online game produced by San Francisco-based Linden Lab in which participants create a virtual world, buy and sell land and products and interact in all the usual ways.
Now religion has a growing presence there, too, users say, and religious diversity and participation have skyrocketed since last June, when basic membership to Second Life became free.
The whole article is here.
 Helen at the SL Anglican Cathedral |
Anglicans in Second Life
An Anglican group was established in Second Life (SL) thanks to the efforts of Bill Sowers and Mark Brown. Sowers (known as Rocky Vallejo in SL) is a member of St. David’s Episcopal in the Diocese of Kansas, founded the group with the following Charter, according to information at The Anglican Church in Second Life website:
A Christian community for those who call themselves: Anglicans, Episcopalians or members of the Church of England, Episcopal Church or any of the other bodies of believers who share the Anglican heritage.
During the past couple of months, Mark Brown (known as Arkin Ariantho in SL, and CEO of The Bible Society in New Zealand) has spearheaded a campaign to secure land for and build an Anglican Cathedral in SL, which has a real economy. The Cathedral is located at Epiphany Island and you can see pictures at Brown’s Flickr site, here.
Users of Second Life can visit the Cathedral here (and look me up, as Vahnia Gregory). For more information on Second Life, including the technical requirements needed to run the software, visit here.
And stay tuned for possible developments with the Episcopal Cafe in Second Life.