Internet Church Marries Christianity And TechnologyInternet Church Marries Christianity And Technology

For those Internet junkies who embrace faith but just can't pull themselves away from their computers to attend church, fret no more. The United Kingdom's Ship of Fools--a Web site that dubs itself "The Magazine Of Christian Unrest"--has launched its Church of Fools, a Web-based place of worship that could go a long way toward assuaging modern Christian guilt.

The brainchild of editors Simon Jenkins and Steve Goddard, and sponsored by Britain's Methodist Church, Church of Fools is an experiment that combines the serenity of sanctuary with the three-dimensional technology of online video games, resulting in an experience that's designed to bring Christianity into the Internet age. After visitors create avatars to represent themselves and log in, they enter a virtual church in which they can walk around, pray, socialize, and listen to sermons--or just sit and watch the goings-on. They can kneel, bless each other, or raise their hands in a hallelujah gesture. There are even vending machines in the crypt promising fare such as nuts or holy water. Naturally, worshippers also can use their credit cards to make donations.

Regularly scheduled sermons are delivered by ordained preachers--the initial service on May 11 was led by one of the highest-ranking officials of the Church of England, the Rt. Rev Richard Chartres--or at least an avatar designed to look somewhat like him. Chartres is the Bishop of London.

For those who arrive too late to get a spot in the congregation--or who just want to look around but not interact with anyone--there's an option to enter the church as invisible "mysterious worshippers." When services aren't occurring, visitors can explore the church as much as they like, so long as they don't interfere with the worshipping activities of others. It's certainly no free-for-all. The church has a list of a half-dozen house rules--such as treat others with respect, don't become a distraction, don't put on a floor show during services--and there are wardens on hand to enforce the rules and reprimand unruly guests.

Make no mistake, though--outside of services, the Church of Fools is hardly stuffy. While some visitors clearly are there for serious worshipping activity, others chat about what's on television that night, wonder aloud when they're supposed to pray or gesture, or even ask hard questions of each other about religion. Sometimes they even make light of things. For instance, while one recent worshipper kneeled and asked to have his sins forgiven, another commented, "sin, my bum," to which the first worshipper asked, "Your bum sinned?"

Church with a sense of humor--maybe the Internet is good for even more then we realized.