Wow, Destructoid is in rare form today. Ever since that Gamefaqs kid burned down the church we've had a firestorm of controversy. Here is the time line as best I understand it.

1. Jim Sterling's post about the Gamefaqs kid. The comments section immediately became filled with all sorts of endearing posts about the quality of religion. Others responded and things continued to devolve.

Some highlights:

"Also, Matlox, get off the internet. If you think church is more important than games, go to a church forum and talk about how you sucked off Jesus in a revelation you once had.”

"one less church. one less lie."

Ritalin Twitch gets my vote for funniest and most insightful comment.

"This is why I'm a Buddhist. We set our own shit on fire.

I've also found that in my tenure on this planet, evangelical atheists are just as obnoxious as their god loving counterparts."


2. DryvBy lashed out against Jim Sterling in his blog.

We could have done without this post. This attack on Mr. Sterling wasn't particularly useful. I saw where he was coming from, Jim's negative view of religion seems obvious, but still not a good post.

I was bit surprised that some of the people who attacked DryvBy didn't go back and look at the original article. None of them claimed to find Jim laughing about things in the article but this exchange is obvious after only a cursory glance through the comments.

Cunt says:
02/09/2008 09:35
Maybe he thought burning things was cool after he read the bible.

Jim Sterling says:
02/09/2008 09:48
@Cunt

I laughed.

3. Others like unstoppablejuggernaut respond in their blogs.

4. And it must be our lucky week because now we have an article about the Bible and games covered by Mr. Sterling.

http://www.destructoid.com/is-the-bible-less-suitable-for-kids-than-gaming--69668.phtml

This post just seems like a delicious bit of flamebait. While I suppose it remotely qualifies as gaming news I could have done without an attack on the moral character of the Bible. Perhaps it was just that a few paragraphs weren't sufficient to sum up the topic?

To take a quick cue from the Cooper Lawrence scandal, I wonder if Jim Sterling has ever actually read the book he's critiquing? Somehow quoting what another person found with a web search doesn't seem like an appropriate amount of research to properly condemn the sacred text of a major religion and one of history's most important documents.

Incidentally one of the commenters rightly pointed out that the push to pass legislation against games is hardly limited to conservative right-wing groups. Joseph Lieberman and Hilary Clinton have been at it for a long time.


To help prevent future outbreaks I've compiled this list of tips for writing better posts about games and religion.

Simple yet often forgotten insights.

1. This is the Internet, it's filled with people who disagree with you. That's globalization for you. Unless you have something insightful to say you should move along.

2. Bashing religion is old and trite. Maybe it was hip when Voltaire was doing it but those days have passed. We know that people have reasons to hate and mock it. It's not news nor particularly creative.

3. There's a time and a place for everything. When I was in college I studied philosophy and history. I always enjoyed when our professor would invite someone from another faith or of no faith to come in and debate. The discussions could become heated but they were always respectful. One of the best insights my teachers imparted to me was that you could disagree without being disagreeable.

If you're really interested in these things there must be a million forums, and I use this word in a broader context than just the Internet, more suited than Destructoid. Or just spend some time in a library studying and clarifying your own thoughts. But when I roll into Destructoid eager to learn about the latest exploits of Mega man, see some photoshopped kittens, or laugh at the latest silly Internet memes, I can do without a dose of evangelical atheism.

Write some interesting articles about the intersection of religion, politics, culture, and games and I'm happy to read them. Posting inflammatory comments from the safety of your computer doesn't incline me to take you seriously. At least the kids on the playground are willing to say it to someone's face.

4. Extremism always alienates those who hold moderate opinions. I am a Christian. I am a gamer. I have been both for my entire life and I don't foresee giving up either piece of my identity. I don't believe I am alone in this. One of my friends is a youth pastor and playing video games is a common activity at his youth group. I've heard reports that at even at incredibly conservative colleges in the Bible belt Halo is a staple in the dorms.

I do understand that you atheists hate Jack Thompson, I find him a bit misguided myself. I get that you aren't pleased about congressmen passing anti-game laws, I myself think that it's a cheap ploy for votes and that there are more pressing matters. I know you want media that's appropriate for mature adults and think parents are ultimately responsible for raising for their kids, I mostly agree with you.

But when you start dumping on religion I am immediately disinclined to hear anything you have to say. Which really is a shame because I like hearing people talk about games, regardless of their religious or political stance. Trying to explain that games aren't debased to older generations is hard enough without people actively representing that games and atheism are one and the same.

So don't link religion or anti-religion too closely to games please. It’s not helpful. I have plenty of friends who are atheists and I like that we can get together and do things like play Age of Kings. They haven't figured out that I always crush their armies because of divine right, but that's a post for another day.


Now that's out of the way let Falco make everything better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC7sAF19r98