‘Minecraft’ may offer comfort of order to religious players

Jeremy Smith wanted to talk about Jesus, so he picked up a shovel and headed out to build a tunnel.

A virtual shovel, that is. As both a Christian and a fan of the video game “Minecraft,” Smith has one foot in two different communities coming into contact more frequently in the fuzzy halls of cyberspace.

And, as a senior writer at the online ministry “ChurchMag,” Smith uses each of these communities to serve the other. He “vlogs” — creates online videos of himself playing “Minecraft” — while simultaneously explaining Christian ideology in a series titled “Minecraft Theology.”

“I wanted to look at some of the more basic stuff, some of the core competencies of Christianity,” he said in one of these videos as his “Minecraft” icon sped across a screen full of the chunky landscape that “Minecraft” allows users to create and navigate via a computer mouse.

“Part of the prayer process is admitting that you’ve sinned. If you are of the mindset that you are perfect, then you should probably just go ahead and turn this episode off because I got nothing for you,” he continued. “We have confession when we say ‘yes’ to Jesus and become saved.”

In the realm of video games, the 149 views that Smith’s video has logged is be far from viral, but “Minecraft” is becoming what some video-game makers hoped Christianthemed games such as “Catechumen” and “Adam’s Venture” that failed to sell well would become — a tool for exploring and advancing religion among gamers.

“Because ‘Minecraft’ is so open any player can design a world,” said Vincent Gonzalez, a scholar who did his doctoral dissertation on Christian video games. “And whenever things are open, religious people tend to use it to express themselves.” For a list of religious events in central Ohio, visit Gatherings at

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