Religious warfare, on a game console near you

Politics International Politics
1

Okay, I’ve seen some pretty foolish manifestations of religious zealotry, but this is dumber most.

[quote=“Reuters: Christian video game stokes controversy”]A Christian video game has become the latest battleground in America’s “culture” wars, with its maker claiming it promotes prayer while critics charge it carries a message of violent religious intolerance.

“Left Behind: Eternal Forces,” is a teen-rated PC strategy game based on the wildly popular “Left Behind” Christian book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

The game is set in New York City after millions of Christians have been transported to heaven.

Players are charged with recruiting, and converting, an army that will engage in physical and spiritual warfare with the antichrist and his evil followers.

An advocacy group “Campaign to Defend the Constitution” – which monitors right-wing religious activities – says the game is violently pro-Christian and has petitioned retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N: Quote, Profile , Research) to pull it from its shelves.

The critics describe it as “a violent video game in which born-again Christians aim to convert or kill those who don’t adhere to their extreme ideology.”

“After you kill somebody you need to recharge your soul points and to do that you need to bend down in prayer. … I think the message is extremely clear,” said Clark Stevens, co-director of Campaign to Defend the Constitution.[/quote]Just be glad it’s only a video game? Nobody’s dying, after all.

Hmmm… does “it’s just a game” make the motives behind it more pure? The religious experience more worthy? :laughing:

And from the company…

[quote=“Left Behind Games”]Game description

Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces - a real-time strategy game based upon the best-selling LEFT BEHIND book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Join the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances!

· Lead the Tribulation Force from the book series , including Rayford, Chloe, Buck and Bruce against Nicolae Carpathia – the AntiChrist.

· Conduct physical & spiritual warfare : using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.

· Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices.  

· Command your forces through intense battles across a breathtaking, authentic depiction of New York City .

· Control more than 30 units types - from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks!

· Enjoy a robust single player experience across dozens of New York City maps in Story Mode – fighting in China Town , SoHo , Uptown and more!

· Play multiplayer games as Tribulation Force or the AntiChrist's Global Community Peacekeepers with up to eight players via LAN or over the internet![/quote]

So many ways to get it wrong. sigh.

2

aren’t the ‘christians’ left behind actually the losers?

according to the book of revelations that is the case, but if you believe the book of revelations has anything worthwile to say, you probably believe anything you read on the internet too.

god is a myth. all of them.

i stand by my free speech rights to say that. thanks to all those americans who have died defending that right for me.

3

Why is this any worse than Grand Theft Auto or any of the other games that promote killing for fun? From the description, I’m not sure I would classify it as a “Christian Game”, but it may be entertaining.

4

sounds cool.

5

I suppose it’s as entertaining as any other first person shooter. I wouldn’t classify it as a “Christian Game” either, but then there are a lot of churches that marry nationalism and militarism to religion that I don’t consider Christian. Still, they get away with it.

Whether this is any worse depends on whether or not you accept the proposition “Nothing’s sacred.” In this case, it’s religion that’s being perverted to make a buck. In an earlier game, players took on the character of Lee Harvey Oswald to shoot JFK. That struck me as wrong too. Next year, what, real life serial killers and their actual victims?

I don’t have a problem with the bastardization of culture to make a buck–Disney’s entertaining enough–but when it comes to ‘not getting it’, it’d be tough to top this.

It’s also deeply ironic given all the noise that’s been made over the ‘violence inherent’ in Islam.

6

The “Left Behinders” doing the fighting in the book and game are those who were not taken up to Heaven in the Rapture, but have realised the errors of their ways and are trying to make amends by fighting the minions of Satan on Earth.

Interesting that it’s set in New York,too- git all them furriners, libruls and Jews- yeehaw!

7

Sad thing is that this game might actually sell pretty good and will probably be endorsed from the pulpit in some churches. Religious fanaticism…sigh.

8

And BBC’s take adds this to the mix. Strikes me as much the same, save that this time there’s a specific, living individual target, making it just that much worse. I wonder if this’ll strike a different chord.

[quote=“BBC”]Kill the president

It is not the only violent video game with a message raising concern this holiday season.

The Global Islamic Media Front has released a game called Quest for Bush, in which players aim to kill the US president.

Adam Raisman, an analyst at the Search for International Terrorist Entities (Site) Institute who has played the game, calls the free download “propaganda”, but stops short of labelling it recruitment.

“We can’t say this is preparation for jihad, but it puts out the idea that you can walk around with a gun and shoot American soldiers,” he says.

“It is putting the thought in your head that Bush, Blair and Rumsfeld are the guys you’re going after.” [/quote]

9

Sounds like a brilliant marketing plan to me. Find the one group of people who won’t buy their kids Grand Theft Auto and repackage it for them. Which brings us to our next problem…commercialization of religion.

10

well, when you think about it a bit more, having religious nuts battle each other in computer games is far better than having them bomb me and my friends to make points in their own idealogical war.

when it crosses over into reality and intrudes into my life, they can get f.kt, but if they kill each other virtually i don’t give a shit. religious hatred may be an expression of the most useless kind of bigotry there is, but as long as they keep it to themselves, that’s fine.

by extension, bring on the crusades… let all those who care deeply about it enough annihilate themselves, in a place far far away from others. and at their own cost.

the world will be a better place with less religious intolerance. and with less people.

11

“Quest for Bush” – shouldn’t that be a Spring Break themed movie from the 1980s?