New video game: kill or convert Jews, Muslims to "born again"

Let's see what the hypocritical wingnuts say about this video game, slated to be released in time for Christmas.

If video games are the root of all evil, and violence in video games is helping cause the "downfall of our society", then lookie at what "mega-church" pastor Rick Warren's newest game is:

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice.

I kid you not.

While I am generally a fan of video games, having grown up with Atari as well as the arcade game boom of the early to mid 80's, I also think that the whole "video games are causing people to kill others and should be banned" is just ludicrous. Of course, you know that if there was any small hint of prejudice against religious extremists (see: War on Christmas, etc.) then the talking meatsticks, James Dobson, Pat Robertson and every other lunatic would be jumping up and down, calling for the heads of those who created the "hint of prejudice".

So what have we here? Well, we certainly have a situation that is dripping with hypocrisy, as well as links to some very high level and influential (not to mention controversial) people in the "mega-Catholic world".

First, a bit about Rick Warren. TIME magazine recently listed him as one of the top influential Evangelicals and his "Purpose Driven Church" and his books have reached out to people worldwide. So far, innocent enough. However, as noted in the article linked at the top of the diary:

The international director of Mr. Warren's Purpose Driven Church, Mark Carver, is a former investment banker who serves on the Advisory Board of the corporation created in October 2001 to develop and market this game. The creators plan to market their game using the same network marketing techniques that Mr. Warren used to turn The Purpose Driven Life into a commercial success. For example, they plan to distribute their merchandise through pastoral networks, especially mega-churches.

So at a minimum, the killing of those who want the separation of church and state as well as Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and anyone that believes in that pesky Amendment is at least tacitly approved of by Warren. As for the game itself, it was developed by a company called Left Behind Games, which purchased the license from another company called Tyndale House.

This same Tyndale House publishes the "Left Behind" series by Warren, and also publishes a few books by none other than James Dobson.

Yes, THAT James Dobson, who also once said that parents should not only monitor what video games their children are playing (not necessarily a bad thing), but to avoid the violent ones altogether.

I guess the violent ones are ok if it is done in the name of the Lord.

Some more details of this most fucked up and hypocritical xenophobic homophobic game:

This game immerses children in present-day New York City -- 500 square blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the United Nations headquarters, and Harlem. The game rewards children for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian. The game also offers players the opportunity to switch sides and fight for the army of the AntiChrist, releasing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on conservative Christians and their panicked proselytes (who taste a lot like Christian).

Is this paramilitary mission simulator for children anything other than prejudice and bigotry using religion as an organizing tool to get people in a violent frame of mind? The dialogue includes people saying, "Praise the Lord," as they blow infidels away.

Since we all know enough about Dobson, here is al link to a long story about Warren. It is a long read, but there is enough information about how aggressively they recruit, how their activities can be described as "coercive" (to say the least) as well as other disturbing items about his followers and following.

Actually, you don't need to look further than the Atlanta Courthouse shooting back in 2005 when, in reaction to the fact that Ashley Smith (the hostage) was able to get her captor to release her by reading a passage from Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life. Warren then told Larry King that:

There is the story of things are getting more worse [sic] in some ways. We're seeing the increase in violence. We're seeing terrorism. We've seen these recent shootings. We're seeing the coarsening of our society, that has disgusted a lot of people. And there is people [sic] -- some people are more materialistic than ever.

So I guess it is a good thing that he is dealing with that increase in violence and shootings by having his organization (as well as people affiliated with Dobson) actively market a video game that encourages violence against those who aren't the "true believers" according to his view.

Wanna bet that this goes unnoticed and undiscussed by those who were so quick to denounce violence in music, violence in video games or the "war against Christianity"?

What hypocritical jackasses.