- A university professor highlights the transformative potential of the metaverse in religion, particularly in the Hindu faith.
- Some practitioners of Christianity seem to have a mixed stance on the matter.
Application of Metaverse in Hindu Religion
The metaverse, despite its huge potential to literally open up a new world of opportunities and possibilities, remains mostly an uncharted realm. This is due to its projects getting eclipsed by the advancements of artificial intelligence (AI) and other blockchain projects as of late. Oftentimes, when the talk shifts toward the metaverse industry, the sectors that immediately come to mind in terms of its application lie in gaming, entertainment, education, training, e-commerce, social media, healthcare, manufacturing, and construction.
Some people, however, are now raising the advantages offered by the metaverse in the practice of religion. This has now raised debate in certain religious circles as to whether or not it is appropriate in the current setting.
University of Glasgow Professor Sreevas Sahasranamam recently laid down several scenarios illustrating the transformative role of the metaverse in religion during an interview with Swarajya Magazine. The discussion centered on its application in the Hindu faith.
According to the professor, the metaverse could provide Hindu practitioners with an out-of-this-world immersion into the teachings featured in the Sanskrit epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, as well as other important literature and topics in the ancient Indian religion. He suggested a framework that fuses the metaverse and a small language AI model trained on the commentaries presented by the epic texts to amplify user experience similar to BharatBox and Mythoverse’s “Mahabharat in the Metaverse.”
For a religion embraced by 15% of the world population, this could bring in a deeper faith for practitioners and has the potential to attract more believers into its fold.
Conflicting Views on the Subject
Other religious personalities are not so keen on the prospect of allowing people to participate in religious programs or gatherings only via the metaverse though. This is despite radios and televisions becoming a staple in spreading religions like Christianity over the past few decades.
Pastors Gavin Ortlund and Jay Kim threw in their hats in the matter. For them, certain aspects of the Catholic faith require the physical presence of people like the seven sacraments. They added that the experience and the essence of other key activities in the Christian religion could also be lost if the physicality of the community is taken away.
The pastors’ opinions somehow contrast with the warmer welcome shown by the Vatican toward the tech, which led to a non-fungible token (NFT) art exhibition in the metaverse in conjunction with Sensorium Galaxy in 2022. Father Philip Larrey, Chair of Logic and Epistemology at the Pontifical Lateran University in the Vatican, is another proof of the Holy See’s heavy involvement in Web3 as he served as organizer of several events related to the niche and has written books centering on the technology.
On the other hand, we have yet to hear the Vatican’s official statement regarding the use of metaverse in religion, although Pope Francis has already released a carefully worded message about the advantages and moral implications presented by its rival tech, AI.
