Real Priest Urges Virtual Soul-Searching

Second Life fertile ground for new Catholic converts, Jesuit says
By Wesley Oliver,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2007 4:20 PM CDT
Real Priest Urges Virtual Soul-Searching
A look at Comcastic Island in Second Life, a new destination opened by the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. The island features a series of speed-themed racing games and interactive applications and has a virtual entertainment center that can...   (Associated Press)

A Jesuit academic is encouraging fellow believers to take the word of God to a new world—virtual reality. In a Roman Jesuit journal, Father Antonio Spadaro urges missionaries to preach the good life in Second Life, describing the online simulation game as packed with real souls to save, Reuters reports.

Spadaro says the game, which boats more than 8 million “residents” is full of people seeking more from life, including perhaps spiritual enlightenment: Second Life is already home to virtual churches and temples of various religions. But the academic is careful to it is also careful to warn of the wages of virtual sin: The online community teems with avatars who seek “erotic stimulation from prostitution to pedophilia.” (More Jesuit stories.)

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