No Tony Campolo sermon would be complete without his pulpit-shaking gestures of inspiration and exasperation, punctuating litanies of not-so-subtle digs at U.S. foreign policy, Hollywood, Wall Street and the Religious Right.<\/p>\n\n
As he ended one recent oration, the sociologist, urban activist and evangelical gadfly fell to his knees, hands raised to heaven.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI believe Americans must heed this call and turn away from our wicked ways,\u201d said Campolo, who made headlines counseling President Bill Clinton. \u201cWe need to turn away from sexual promiscuity, turn away from the consumeristic materialism, turn away from our failure to pay attention to what we have done collectively to poor and weak peoples around the world. \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThen, let our prayer be that God will hear from heaven, forgive our sins and heal our land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Many of the faithful said \u201camen,\u201d lifted their hands or made the sign of the cross.<\/p>\n\n
Then Campolo froze for a moment, as an hourglass icon hovered in the Romanesque arches of the Church of Fools, the world\u2019s first 3D, interactive, virtual church.<\/p>\n\n
This kind of thing happens when traffic jams the Internet.<\/p>\n\n
The computer-generated \u201cavatar\u201d looked like Campolo and he was delivering a Campolo sermon entitled \u201cWhy Many People in the World Hate America.\u201d But Campolo was not controlling his own computer image, since the site\u2019s webmasters were not sure he could master the technology needed to preach online \u2014 line by line, gesture by gesture.<\/p>\n\n
Actually, Campolo was at a clergy conference in St. Simons Island, Ga. But he stayed on the telephone with his Philadelphia office staff, which communicated with the Church of Fools in Liverpool, England, through an online instant-messaging program, while one of site\u2019s creators controlled the \u201cpixilated preacher.\u201d The question-and-answer session was especially tricky.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI wanted Tony to be animated, because that\u2019s the way he is \u2014 live,\u201d said Stephen Goddard. \u201cI have known him for years and I know his gestures and style. I was sure I could get our Tony to preach like the real Tony.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The experimental site \u2014 www.ChurchofFools.com \u2014 opened its doors on May 11, with help from the Methodist Church of Great Britain and others. The pilot project ends this weekend (Aug. 8) and the future is uncertain. Goddard said he is confident they can keep the doors open \u2014 but not as often. The Church of England is also poised to open a digital church of some kind.<\/p>\n\n
So far, volunteers have donated the time and expertise needed to create and run Church of Fools, with most of its $30,000 budget being used to purchase the bandwidth needed for interactive services. Goddard said the goal is to raise $300,000 to cover the next three years and to expand \u2014 hopefully including churches in America, China and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n
It is hard to picture what happens in a \u201cvirtual church\u201d without images on a screen. At any one time, 35 worshippers can sign in and create characters that stand, sit or kneel. They can whisper or talk to nearby worshippers, slip into the church crypt for discussions or linger at icons in prayer. Another 1,500 can take part as silent ghosts. Campolo packed the pews.<\/p>\n\n
Participants sang along as the organ played through their speakers, typing phrases from the hymns that seemed meaningful. During the July 28th service, one warden led the global flock in prayer, giving thanks for computers, satellites, bloggers, online friendships and their virtual church.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cHelp us to use our networks to do good things,\u201d she said, \u201cto act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with you, our God, and to be good neighbors online and off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
One thing visitors cannot do is jump the virtual altar rail. Early on, an avatar called \u201cSatan\u201d stormed the pulpit and cursed the Anglican bishop of London. That wasn\u2019t cricket. Wardens now have the power to smite the rowdy.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt only took a day or two to discover that there are lots of people who could not resist the chance to scream \u2018wanker!\u2019 in a church sanctuary,\u201d said Goddard. \u201cActually, all that cursing was a good sign. It told us that we didn\u2019t have the usual holy club in the pews. This wasn\u2019t going to be just another safe Christian crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
NEXT WEEK: Is an online church a \u201creal\u201d church?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No Tony Campolo sermon would be complete without his pulpit-shaking gestures of inspiration and exasperation, punctuating litanies of not-so-subtle digs at U.S. foreign policy, Hollywood, Wall Street and the Religious Right. As he ended one recent oration, the sociologist, urban activist and evangelical gadfly fell to his knees, hands raised to heaven. \u201cI believe Americans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[152,342,405,458,932],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-campolo","tag-evangelism","tag-great-britain","tag-internet","tag-world-wide-web"],"yoast_head":"\n