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Kenneth Sutton - author of Homefries - one of the blogs I've been reading for a while - has written an interesting article about going to church in Second Life. Apparently some guy has built a church specifically intended for worship:

The church they found looks nothing like a typical “real life” UU church. People sit in three rows on round cushions around a pond. (Some look more or less like regular people in casual clothes; others wear exotic costumes or look like furry creatures or the aforementioned dragon.) A waterfall and a large flaming chalice frame a stone pulpit. A quilt interpreting the Seven Principles hangs amid the trees, and there’s a painting that becomes a video screen. An animated giraffe and several ostriches roam near the church.

UU stands for Unitarian Universalist and is - wikipedia informs me - a theologically liberal religious movement characterized by its support of a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". A denomination well suited for virtual life. A strength with this kind of presence is that if a church un Second Life is shared with all Universalists the world over there may always be someone that shares your interest and beliefs online in Second Life. Extend it to any subculture that is nongeographically oriented and that depends on people meeting to share an experience - the power of a place like Second Life maybe becomes more obvious. The emergence of the web made it possible to share text and graphics. The emergence of a three dimensional web will make it possible to share experiences. The possibility to build global networks of like-minded has entered a completely new level.

And I really like giraffes.