Hallelujah! Churchgoing in the VR

At a recent exhibition in the Gnadenkirche church in Chemnitz-Borna, visitors can use VR glasses to gain an extraordinary insight into distant sacred buildings. But how do churches and VR fit together?

Virtual Reality in einem Gotteshaus – geht das? Wieso auch nicht! Für das VR Projekt der Gnadenkirche in Chemnitz-Borna wurden mehrere Bilder, unter anderem im Berliner Dom, aufgenommen und aneinandergefügt. „Wenn Besucher die Brille aufsetzen, stehen sie mitten im Raum, können rauf- und runtergucken und einen Rundumblick gewinnen“, erklärt Matthias Hövelmann (53) vom Entwicklungsteam „novopano“.

VR in training and school

Bereits gibt es schon andere Ideen, wozu man die VR einsetzen könnte: „Die Brillen können bei der Kirchenführer-Ausbildung eingesetzt werden“, so Immo Wittig (60) von der Otto-Bartning-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kirchenbau.

If you think further, other options open up: VR, like the project Living stones has also proved to be a good teaching aid for religious education. Because whether it's a church, synagogue, mosque or Sikh temple - with VR, pupils can gain an insight into any building.

But church services in VR are also unthinkable. Theoretically, there would be the possibility of a live stream with a 360° camera so that you could attend from home or even from your hospital bed.

Church service in VR

There is already an English-language church service in a specially animated 3D church in the VR social hub "Altspace". Services are held here weekly with a US pastor. The international congregation seems to be quite constant, albeit manageable in terms of numbers - which probably has to do with the spread of VR.

The services have their own "liturgy" consisting of approx. 30 minutes of worship music, prayer, sermon, prayer and blessing (together approx. 1-1.5 hours). Despite the usable space for movement, there is not much interaction here, in fact there tends to be less than in a normal church service, as the music also invites people to listen without singing along and nobody feels exposed to social pressure. The church room is only accessible during events.

Source: media.tag24 / digitale-kirche