This looks really interesting!

By Martyn Casserly | 22 December 2009

This Christmas, as churchgoers battle against snow, wind and ice to reach their places of worship, one section of Christendom will pay its respects from the comfort of the sofa. These few, observing midnight mass in slippers and pyjamas, are part of a new movement of virtual churches whose buildings exist solely online.

St Pixels is a community of believers who meet online to hold virtual services, pray for each other, blog about their experiences and enjoy the community. Members are represented by cartoon avatars, and the church itself is in essence a chat-room, but behind the icons are real people who are serious about their faith. 

"The most important thing for me," explains Pat Oakley, one of the leaders at St Pixels, "is that we are not bound by geographical location, time or denomination. We have members from all around the world, and it’s great to share our worship with people we otherwise wouldn’t be in contact with."

The reasons for attending an online church differ from person to person, but in Pat’s experience there are some common explanations.
 
"Many people are geographically remote from a church where they would like to worship," she says. "Some are carers, for whom it’s difficult to get to a ‘real-life’ church regularly, or may be those that suffer ill health. Others may be dipping their toes into the water of faith and find St Pixels to be a non-threatening environment where they only divulge what they choose, and can explore every aspect of Christianity safely, at their own pace."

For those of a more visual disposition there are now a host of churches establishing themselves in Second Life. The Anglican Cathedral of Second Life is in the tradition of classic gothic architecture. Visually it looks the part, with stained glass windows, wooden pews, a stone altar, and even a church organ present.

Despite the nods towards realism, cynics may question whether any of these virtual churches constitute a genuine place of worship. "I think for some it’s hard to understand how this can be ‘real’ church," says Ailsa Wright, lay pastor at the cathedral. "The concept of 3D worlds on the internet, if people have the concept at all, is that they are for games, something you play at. It’s simply not possible to fully appreciate worship and fellowship online unless you have experienced it. We can provide prayer, worship and pastoral care for many needy people via the internet, and we’re there 24/7 which is a great freedom."

"There’s a huge need for a listening ear in Second Life," she continues. "People tend to be very open in their questioning and in seeking help when they have difficulties. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the church to get alongside people in their everyday struggles and to show that we care, that God cares."

Running a service in a virtual world, replete with customisable avatars, also brings about unique challenges not faced by regular church leaders.

"You don't have congregants who are clouds because they haven't rezzed yet (i.e. materialised on screen) in real life," Ailsa muses, "and its not often that you worship with hippos, cats, robots, mermaids and various other livestock."

Mythical creatures aside, growing congregations suggest that the virtual church is here to stay. You really can find anything on the internet these days – including God.

Ballet by Javier de Frutos received rowdy reception when it premiered on the London stage in October

• Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 December 2009 17.31 GMT
• Article history

A scene from Eternal Damnation Of Sancho and Sanchez by Javier De Frutos. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

 

When Javier de Frutos's dance tribute to the great Russian impresario Diaghilev premiered in London on 13 October, the work – with its deformed pope, pregnant nuns and wild sex – received a mixed reception: walkouts and boos combined with an ecstatic response from its fans.

It was a succès de scandale, recalling the brawls at the premiere of The Rite of Spring in 1913, which Diaghilev famously commissioned. The following day, the BBC announced it would broadcast the piece, along with three other new dance works commissioned by Sadler's Wells in honour of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.

But last month it became clear that the BBC had decided pull the transmission of De Frutos's work, set for a pre-watershed slot on Friday on BBC4 – and now de Frutos is hitting back at a decision he believes is "silly as well as dangerous".

He said: "Obviously Jerry Springer the Opera [which elicited 55,000 complaints when broadcast on the BBC in 2005] was a watershed. It seems that we still live in a society where a small minority has the power to take away the right of the majority to see things. This seems absurd, especially in the case of BBC4. The knitting channel has marginally more viewers than they do."

According to the composer Thomas Adès, who saw the work at Sadler's Wells theatre: "To pull it from the programme is a shocking, terrible mistake, and shows a disgraceful, pathetic and worrying loss of nerve on the part of the BBC. I am abrim with disgust at the BBC's behaviour … all they needed to do was broadcast it later [in the evening].

"There should be much more outrage about this not being shown than there was about Jerry Springer's being shown. I thought the work was a masterpiece, a brilliant tribute to the showmanship and provocation of Diaghilev. In content there was nothing you would not see in South Park or Family Guy."

In the words of Guardian dance critic Judith Mackrell: "Cast with a hunchbacked pope, pregnant nuns and horny priests, [the work] is set in a crypt decorated with frescoes of priapic men. Its rituals climax in some of the most graphic scenes of sex and violence seen on the dance stage." She also praised it as "funny and tight … sharply structured and wittily referential".

De Frutos acknowledges that his piece – called Eternal Damnation to Sancho and Sanchez – is unsuitable for a pre-watershed broadcast. But he is angry at the "naivety" of the BBC for assuming that "they could broadcast it before the watershed just because it was ballet. People just simply assumed. And you should never assume in art."

The works were given a pre-watershed slot, according to a BBC spokesman, "because ballet at this time of year is a family thing. You sit down together and watch.

"At the time we commissioned the programme we did not realise that there would be this kind of material in the work."

The BBC announced the broadcast in a press release on 14 October, the day after the work's premiere. De Frutos said he was contacted by the BBC about five weeks ago to be told that the broadcast would be pulled.

He said that his intentions with the work were clear from May, when he started creating the 25-minute piece. "There was access to all this. My studio was open."

The BBC was not involved until relatively late in the process, when it decided to acquire footage that had been created by an outside company for a Sadler's Wells DVD.

However, according to De Frutos: "If you have a piece about the Marquis de Sade, then obviously you don't put it on CBeebies, because it's the wrong slot."

The fact that the piece, like Jerry Springer the Opera, contains material critical of religion, also contributed to the BBC's decision.

"The fact that it's Advent and the programme was essentially part of our Christmas schedule was relevant," said the BBC spokesman.

Jan Younghusband, the BBC's commissioning editor for music and events, said: "It is not my commission so I cannot speak about why a post-watershed work was commissioned for a pre-watershed slot … normally we would edit round anything inappropriate but in this case we can't, because it would destroy the work.

"But obviously it would be good to show Javier's work at some point, which is why I have asked to see him to talk about how we might do so in the future."