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Religion Meets Virtual Reality: Christianity-Themed VR Demo Scheduled For Easter (nbcnews.com)
"Anyone looking to experience God in a brand new way will soon have his or her chance -- virtually," writes NBC News, reporting on "a new immersive faith-based virtual reality experience...part of a larger project created by L. Michelle Media called Mission VR." An anonymous reader writes:
The company was founded "to create a signature virtual reality environment -- a faith world of sorts -- where dynamic, never before seen, Christian lifestyle stories and experiences could have a home." Demos have been timed to coincide with this weekend's Easter celebration, while the official launch happens later this spring. Viewers will apparently experience biographical stories combining VR applications and YouTube videos to showcase the power of belief. "Up until now, we've only been able to watch Christianity from a third person perspective -- preached sermons, music videos, interviews, even reality shows..." says the founder of Mission VR. "This is the future of Christian programming."
But one reverend told NBC that VR worlds could be dangerous because they "may take people from community and from the incarnational aspects of Christian life... [W]e always run a very serious risk that the medium overtakes the message... What we must do is guard against the use of technology through market logic where people become brands and all things spiritual become commoditized."
But one reverend told NBC that VR worlds could be dangerous because they "may take people from community and from the incarnational aspects of Christian life... [W]e always run a very serious risk that the medium overtakes the message... What we must do is guard against the use of technology through market logic where people become brands and all things spiritual become commoditized."
I'm certain that when all your religious holidays have been preempted with massive consumer frenzies, you're message has been already overtaken.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat this chocolate bunny butt first.
This is also the only way that Christians can visit a lengthening list of ancient structures that Those Other Guys have demolished.
In one way, this could help religion by providing people with a religious experience or even a very realistic recreation of religious events, connecting people to the origins and mythology.
In another way, religions could view it as a threat. I've read several times that psychedelic drugs were often suppressed by religions because they provided people with a transcendental experience not controlled by the religion. I can see someone producing a slick VR religion program that's not endorsed or controlled by mainstream religions being seen as a big threat.
They've also built a virtual-Messiah twitter account. It's first tweet was, "I drew much bigger crowds than Moses. Believe me."
You are welcome on my lawn.
Tried it out but I'm not sure I did it right.
*At the crucifixion*
Me> Bro, that looks painful, you need some help?
J> Uhh... I'm dying fo-
Me> I hear ya! Let me just equip a hatchet and-oh here we go.
J> No, you don't understand I'm daying for your-
Me> For my help, yeah dont' worry just gimme a few more seconds! I'll cast resurrect if you don't make it.
J> That's noooOOOT-
Me> TIMBER!
*Game segfaults*
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Mystical is in your head. Reinforce something and....
https://thehumanist.com/magazi...
In recent years Persinger set out to investigate so-called âoemysticalâ experiences under controlled laboratory conditions. He got volunteers to wear a helmet fitted with a set of magnets through which he ran a weak electromagnetic signal. Persinger found that the magnetically induced seizures in the temporal lobes generate the same sort of hallucinations and mystical experiences reported by epileptic patients. Four in five people, he says, report a âoemystical experience, the feeling that there is a sentient being or entity standing behind or nearâ them. Some weep, some feel God has touched them, others become frightened and talk of demons and evil spirits. âoeThatâ(TM)s in the laboratory,â Persinger notes, referring to subjectsâ(TM) knowledge of a controlled environment. âoeHow much more intense might these experiences be if they happened late at night, or in a pew in a mosque or synagogue?â
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Our understanding of the mind-body problem is about as primitive as the understanding of medieval alchemist was of chemistry. They used "phlogiston theory" because they simply had no data or theory that worked better. It's the same with prayer: it's clearly scientifically unsatisfying, but science currently has nothing to offer that actually works better. Prayer (and other forms of meditation) helps many people live healthier, better, more satisfying lives, which is why they use it and why it has been around for so long.
So, either suggest a better alternative, or spare us the snark.
I grew up in a Christian home, so I’m one of those people who rebelled against their up-bringing, etc., etc. People like me also get riled up by Christian fundamentalists, like those weirdo creationists who are the poster chldren for cherry-picking evidence. Personally, it’s more important to me to experience the excitement of a new scientific discovery than to derive some kind of false comfort from an ancient philosophy. Nevertheless, I can see its value for others.
The truth is that we all live in a world of delusions. Even in science, we know that the latest and greatest or most advanced theories are just approximations of reality, so we choose to apply what we know now as if it were true because it gets the job done. Improved versions of the theories in the future may or may not get the job done better. (Relativity and QM don’t always improve over Newtonian physics, because the added complexity is usually not worth the often immeasureable improvement in accuracy.)
In many ways, religion is effective as a meditative philosophy. Things like yoga, martial arts, Buddhism, etc. all come with psychological/spiritial/traditional baggage beyond the practical effects of teaching discpline, exercise, and other things. But people actually NEED a basis for finding emotional comfort and psychological stability, and religions often get the job done (even if they’re mosty fictional). Do we pick on people for reading fantasy novels, watching Star Trek, and playing video games? It’s all the same.
As Richard Dawkins has said, compared to “certain” relgions, Christianity is relatively benign. And choosing between one “relatively benign” religion and another is like choosing between Karate and Kung Fu and also indulging in the quasi-religious philosophies that come with them. 6 of one, half dozen of another. What difference does it make which delusion you choose? The value in choosing one is the comfort or practical value it brings you. And for many peolpe, they are involved in their religion primarily to belong to a community, with the beliefs being secondary.
Yes, there are those prominent people that turn religion into a weapon, tell you all about how you’re going to hell if you don’t believe EXACTLY as they do, etc. Well, there are “scientists” who regularly engage in fabrication and falsification. Computers have no positive or negative moral aspect per se, but there are people who utilize them to commit crimes. We don’t disavow something just because some assholes abuse it. And we don’t completely disavow something just because it contains ideas we realize are inaccurate.
When we want to pick on Christians, maybe the first representative we think of is Ken Ham. Yeah. He’s a bad guy. (He doesn’t mean to be, but he causes a lot of damage.) Instead, why not think of Kenneth Miller? Despite being a devout Catholic, he has been one of the most vocal opponents to religious bullshit impinging on science since the 1970s. We could all use him as a role model. And BTW, he benefits from his religion.
>> Wait, what? You can have a kid without having sex? My gene lineage isn't necessarily destined to die out! Yay!"
Even such a miracle is not really a saving throw for most cliche nerds because I think it requires you to at least know the girl, which would also mean venturing out of your parent's basement at least sometimes.
>> citing God as the basic element of the universe.
Maybe that was just his shorthand for hydrogen.
And mainstream Christian churches (Catholicism, Lutheranism, etc.) don't claim that prayer does that; what they generally teach is that "God answers prayers in his own way". Generally, that means that when you ask for winning the lottery or for a lightning bolt to strike your ex-wife, what God might grant in response to your prayer is what Christianity actually values: serenity, compassion, wisdom, understanding, and freedom from sin and desire. You know, just the sort of benefits that meditation can actually deliver.
No, not at all. What actually happened is that you were so ignorant about Christianity that you created a strawman in your head and didn't even realize it.
Mainstream Christianity has never taught that "if you ask God for X, you have a higher probability of getting X".
What it has taught is that "if you ask God for X, you may get some Y that helps you".
For example, when "X = material benefit", then a reasonable outcome is that "Y = reduction of desires for material benefits".
If you strip away all the religious mumbo jumbo, it's quite clear that the only "Y" that Christianity ever promises are psychological benefits, and that Christianity considers any promise of material benefits "Y" to be the domain of the devil.
And the psychological benefits Christianity promises for "Y" happen to be pretty much the kind that prayer can actually deliver.
In fact, a common theme throughout Christian writings is that God rejects and opposes material desires and tit-for-tat deals; see, for example, the Book of Job.
I can see artistic merit in a Christian VR experience. Of course my wish would be a VR experience of one of the great old world Cathedrals while a chorus sings Gregorian chant. If it were well done it would have enough artistic merit standing on its own to be a worthy experience regardless of one's religiosity.