When the church discovered the new Sony game they did not jump boy for joy as everyone other teenage boy undoubtedly did.  Instead, they gave them a court date.  The church claimed that the games climatic gun fight, which is set in Manchester Cathedral, is “virtual desecration” of a sacred building.  With this, there are many things wrong.  Sony decided that an epic setting for such a nonsensical epic scene should be a cathedral, but why any cathedral when it can be a specific one, instead, so that the audience can identify it.   Because La Sangria de Familia still isn’t finished being built, they chose the Manchester Catherdral.  The Church then witnessed this unbelievable scene including mutated alien lifeforms and a savior who is going to save the world with his gun.  This scene, which is far from reality and will never happen within reality, they took offense to because of the coding of the setting.  Understandably, the church does not want to have any connection to violence, but in no way does the game connect to the cathedral, Christianity or the Church unless the player knows the cathedral and can then identify it through the architecture (notice: architecture, not interior design or placement because they’re altered).  If the Church tried to bargain with Sony over the fact that the weapon used is a gun and Manchester Cathedral hosts gatherings specifically against gun use, instead of defying a sacred building’s image, they may have made more progress in court.  With the Church’s approach  being that it was “virtual desecration” implies that they acknowledge the sacred within a virtual space, which opens up a whole other can of worms which I cannot begin to unravel.  After taking offense, the Church asked three things of Sony: first, an apology, which Sony did so obliging because there truly was no intent of desanctifying the architecture; second, they wanted Sony to recall all the games and discontinue the sale, but Sony would not agree (rationally, they aren’t going to recall a game which is profiting, especially after all the publicity hype that the Church is giving it); third, the Church asked for a donation to the cathedral, but Sony did not respond.  Let’s recap, Sony made a game they thought was going to be the next bit hit, the Church took offense, asked for an apology which Sony gave, but the Church said wasn’t enough, then asked them to recall the game, which Sony refused, and finally, asked for a donation as a way to help the Manchester Cathedral out of the good of their hearts.  Sony did promise never to use Manchester Cathedral as a setting again, so as to avoid any further blasphemous accusations.  Now, the Digital Guidelines Code of Conduct states that no image associated with a religious group is able to be replicated with out permission and authorization of a religious leaders.  These guidelines alone can project future problems including the dividing perception of the sacred in VR among spiritual leaders and the discussion of the sacred within virtual reality.

Virtual Ritual, Real Faith: The Revirtualization of Religious Ritual in Cyperspace by Cheryl Chase discusses how religion has been shaped by contemporary society and the virtual world has welcomed the plane of religion and allows technology to be used as a tool for religious rituals.  Chase takes the assumption that because the virtual world has become an extension of reality, religion also has extended into the virtual world.  She denounces the debate of whether or not religious rituals online are “good” or “bad” for religion, but rather, asks how the shift of religion into the virtual world has shaped society’s views.  Chase discusses the adaptation of various religions within the new digital revolution of society.  She approaches her research, keeping in mind that the concept of an online ritual can only be debated within the boundaries of the religion’s beliefs.  There are five categories which outline a ritual, and if the use within the ritual can be transferred to the virtual world, it allows an easy transition for the ritual from reality to ritual reality.  The five categories are space, time, co-presence, authority, roles, and performance.  If the religious beliefs allow a connection between the sacred and the virtual, “by offering virtual presence from inside a virtual realm, ritual, as enacted symbol in cyberspace, is all the more effective at pointing beyond itself to the divine or the sacred.”  Overall, Casey discusses the presence of the sacred within the virtual and the authenticity of ritual performances can be used if the religious beliefs and correct jargon and  boundaries are acknowledged.

Virtual reality contains implications of spacialized thinking in terms of the subject within the virtual world.  In the jargon alone it is blatant to see that our understanding of space and time within the virtual world is not structured adequately for this new space.  Metaphors are most often used to explain geography and spacial relations on-line; such as a site being referred to as a “frontier” to build on, or spaces such as Second Live or Alphaworld can be “colonized.” The computer’s screen is often referred to as a page of a book.   However, this literary metaphor is decieving as the article exemplifies.  Women who may look to books in order to escape real world problems (ie.  harrasment), find that there is still an occurance of these problems on-line.  Many misconceptions arise from such metaphors because there is a lack every element that is within the virtual space.  The book metaphor may refer to the thought that virtual space is “another world”, however it does not contain the elements of interactivity, communication and public input which effects changes constantly.   Gender play a large role in VR because whether the controller amplifies their gender or denotes it, it plays a part in the site itself.  The controller utilizes the space for different reasons that may not be as easily controlled in real life, and the viewer creates a gender for the site, not the creator.

Virtual reality, unlike the real world, is a space that can be completely controlled.  Every aspect of the virtual space can be altered to the likings of the controller.  This also brings forward the point that, in the virtual world, most often it is the space that is designated a name and identity, instead of the person who created it.  Every space in VR is immediately given a higher status than many in the real world.  Similarly to institutional or sacred spaces, each space in VR has a purpose and meaning which is utilized by the public for that specific reason.

There are many layers of Durkheim’s totem theory that can be transferred to virtual reality, but not quite the same way.  The idea of a totem, and physical interpretation of the divine may be seen online.  Any image can be reconstructed online, allowing totems to be accessed and seen by many.  However, if the totem is used as an embodiment of the divine, that sacred element is lost in virtual reality.  In order for a divine to be embodied into a sacred object, it usually requires a religious leader of some sort to preform a ritual, which may hold true for this reality, but because the physical totem can no transfer over to virtual reality, only the image, the divine could not either.  If the totem is used merely as a symbol, the image alone would hold itself as a religious icon and would lose no meaning whether nailed above a door or encoded online.   With the advancement of e-church and other religious gatherings online, the idea of a formed community practicing religion may seem adequate within the virtual reality.  However, because an act is being performed online with other avaters, does not make a community.  First, there  is no way to be certain that every one is qualified to participate (if they haven’t made their communion they can’t eat the e-waffer, if they haven’t been excepted into “maturity” they may not allowed to be present).  This allows people to participate who may, just by their participation, create the space to be impure or unsacred.  When a person interacts with an online community or game (religious or not), it seems like a solitary task until it is discussed or acknowledged outside of virtual reality.  Then it has become realized as a social activity.  In order for these religious icons, communities, etc to be considered authentic, there needs to be a real acknowledgment existence outside of the virtual reality. Then, even though the VR is a representation, it can be accounted for in the real world.  This could be made an acception if the divine is put into VR.  For instance, Pagans view VR as an extension of reality and therefor place the divine into VR so that it becomes a sacred place.  This may rectify some religious rituals online if a leader (rabbi, priest, etc) “bless” the specific VR space (maybe through URL?) before any e-task is preformed.

In the article “Technopagans: May the Astral Plane be Reborn in Cyberspace” by Erik Davis the new transition from reality to virutal reality is discussed among testimonial accounts of pagans who have converted to the internet. The author, als known as Pesce is a pagan himself, and discusses his experiences with The Craft online. Paganism, a belief so strongly rooted in the earth, and elements, and the connection with nature, would by thought to refuse the use of the internet as sacred space. In fact, many pagans welcome the notion of an extenstion of the community into cyberspace. As Pesce states, “Both cyberspace and magical space are purely manifest in the imagination. Both spaces are entirely constructed by your thoughts and beliefs.” He takes the stance that because faith itself is constructed in the mind, it should make no difference whethere you’re in the woods or at a computer, your conscious will act the same, and therefore your magic. Davis discusses how most modern Pagans are solitary worshippers and no longer work within a coven or pagan community; the internet is a way for these solitary pagans to connect with others and trade workings and learn from eachother. The internet is also a way to keep a person’s pagan identity amongst other pagans and out of everyday interactions with others who may not be as understanding. Because of the Pagan perspective in history, the internet has become a sort of underground connection among others who practice the craft. “Without the sacred there is no differentiation in space; everything is flat and gray. If we are about to enter cyberspace, the first thing we have to do is plant the divine in it.”

In rituals there are certain accurances that must take place; honoring deities and steps which work towards a desired change. In games there are steps to be followed in order to be able to complete the game (win, conquor, etc); but there is no desired change. In rituals there is an acknowledgment of a higher being, the one who controls the outcome of the ritual or who has pased down these guidelines. However, in a game, the player doesn’t take into account who the programmer is or feel the need to pay s/he respect at all. The argument made to connect ritual to game playing is pretty weak. It seems that the key points which are being compared could be found similar in stories, sports, and other cultural groupings if the concept is swayed enough towards the intended answer.

The idea of magic circle , where the player is inside the game and the laws of reality (morals, consequences, etc) are lifted. This allows players to kill, speed in vehicles, have magic powers, or whatever the game entails that would normally seem impossible in real life. Because of the physical freedom allowed in the “magic cirlce,” it can be metaphorically compared to the churches and temples and any sacred space. The freedom to enact in forbidden behavior in the game’s “magic circle” is the similar to these sacred places becuase they are considered “safe places.” Their safe place to worship, connect with deities, etc, which was considered “forbidden behavior” in the past.

I was reading an article about how Second Life can be used to test economic models with.  This got me wondering about if there were any, or how it could be done, to  use virtual reality to test religious theories or idea.  With the virtual e-churches, pastors could maybe test out a sermon and recieve feed back before preaching to their chapel in reality, but in what other ways can virtual reality be used as a “test run” for religion?

This game seemed to have more faults as a religious tool than positives.  First off, I assume that this game is directed more towards Christians than any other religious affiliation because of the use of “the hand of God” as the controller, though my opinions can be used across the religious board.  The concept of being able to play God seems blasphemous, not to mention the mundane tasks that “God” has to go through (such as gathering wood).  It seems like God is positioned as a human with power and authority, it would seem that a god’s role is to take care of the people’s faith and emotion and eternal soul, not whether they have enough wood to build his temple.  Which brings me to another forced construction that God has to play; it seems egotistical that the first job you have as God is to help your worshipers build a temple for you.  The whole concept of playing God is a statement that implies humans know what the position entails and think they’re mighty enough to take a whack at it.  Now, that being said, there is a positive to being able to play God.  It may help some see where their place lies in his eyes and understand exactly how much power a god has.  As well as understand the devotion a god may expect (depending on religion of course) and the “other issues” that take up his time, not just a prayer for a new car.  That being said,with all my discouraging criticism, the game seems like a lot of fun, a game to lose time in.  On a side note, possibly we could use every other Wednesday (that you’re trying to fill) to play a game the entire class.  Everyone could just take turns giving it a try and we can explore them more.  I find  it more critical when we see how religion is being interpreted in these games and discuss that, as oppose to each of us just reading individual examples and trying to give a generalized theme, that way we can all have a hand in the process as oppose to just the generalizations.  

“CHANT (CHinese ANcient Texts): A Comprehensive Dattabase of all Ancient Chinese Texts up to 600 AD” article written by Che Wah Ho describes the transfer of text from centuries of Chinese history into an electronic  database.  The Institiute of Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong began the project in 1988 of pre-220 AD traditional Chinese texts.  Since then, many more ancient texts have been added to span from 1500 BC to 600 AD.  The CHANT Database is divided into five components to allow easy navigation through the texts: (1) pre-220 AD (the Pre-Han and Han period ) traditional texts, (2) 220 – 581 AD (the Weijin period) traditional texts, (3) excavated texts on wood/bamboo strips and silk (Jianbo), (4) excavated oracular inscriptions on tortoise shells and bones (Jiaguwen), (5) traditional as well as excavated bronze inscriptions (Jinwen).  This database was designed in order to allow free and easy access to traditional Chinese texts throughout the world.  It could be used as a record of history as well as a educational tool for coming generations.   The problems that they encountered in the transfering of texts slowed to production slightly.  The transferring of excavated materials were time consuming and required particular tools which we of minimal disposal.  Also, with texts so old, the language had varied since its original publishing.  Words such as hai (jeopardize) was though to have been rou (covets its meat), which can change the entire meaning of a message.  Because of the various amount of material, and various versions, there was difficulty in finding a database which could sufficiently hold that much information.  This caused many transfers of the texts to various database in order to compensate for the volume. By transferring such information into an electronic database provides easy access and organization of China’s historical text.  And because the database could be a more frequently used encyclopedia, it maintains the original artifacts from too much handling.  Because it is an unaltered collection of texts, the  spread of the information is able to accessed and understood around the world, with no biased perspective by either  a modern native or outsider to the culture.

Erik Davis covers the making of a computer software designed to spread enlightenment through virtual reality.  In a Gelukpa Buddhist monastery in southern India, Michael Roach has collected groups of monks together in order to help create this new visionary project.  The Asian Classics Input Project is  an idea created by Roach to have buddhist texts and teachings obtainable by the click of a finger.  Currently the project is only available in a working state on CD ROM or floppy disk, for a donation of $15, though  the donation is not necessary.  The first DC-ROM, Woodblock to Laser, contains  ”half-million words of Buddhist philosophy, as well as catalogs, some nifty search software, and eleven woodblock images of Buddhist masters scanned from a celebrated copy of the Prajaparamita.”  Although many of the teaching can be transfered into a digital mode, some of the more exclusive teachings are troublesome; not all the desired texts are able to be taken out of the country in order to be used with the correct technology and people.  Roach and his team have already begun spreading the software, they’ve given away 10,000 discs to 50 countries, the first being Africa.   By putting these sacred teachings into virtual reality, the Asian Classics Input Project is hoping to allow everyone the opportunity to learn about Buddhism in an interactive and organized manner.  The software includes hypertext using keywords from various citations so that the reader is able to have immediate definitions of unknown words and so they can “get a feel for the complete web of Buddhist philosophy.” This also serves a metaphorical role in order to “demonstrate the intimate relationship between morality and the concept of emptiness, the tricky and pivotal notion that all things have no intrinsic “self-nature.” The legal positives of putting this material on the internet is the lack of financial hassles and the availablity of exclusive printed volumes which are not publicly accessable.