"Convert or Die"

By Darrell Grizzle

Just in time for holiday gift-giving . . .

Liberal and progressive Christian groups say a new computer game [Left Behind: Eternal Forces] in which players must either convert or kill non-Christians is the wrong gift to give this holiday season and that Wal-Mart, a major video game retailer, should yank it off its shelves.

. . . The Rev. Tim Simpson, a Jacksonville, Fla., Presbyterian minister and president of the Christian Alliance for Progress, added: “So, under the Christmas tree this year for little Johnny is this allegedly Christian video game teaching Johnny to hate and kill?”

The news story, from the San Francisco Chronicle:
‘Convert or Die’ Game Divides Christians

Comments

[Peterson Toscano]

I am grateful that this game is on the market, because it reveals in stark detail the attitudes of certain types of Christians towards whom they consider "lost".

If some are lost souls who refuse OUR GOD, then big deal if we blow them up. They are just extras in God's giant action film. Nameless, unimportant extras.

[John G.]

While the concept of this game turns my stomach, I wonder how effective it really is for progressive religionists to organize against it. Such action just makes me think of Tipper Gore and the Right's own campaigns against violence in the midea, video games, Dungeons and Dragons, etc. This kind of organizing, focusing on retailers and game makers is very unlikely to actually change the minds of big businesses, and only presents progressive religionists as no different than conservative religionists in the eyes of non-religionists.

I think a more effective strategy would be to use this game as a rallying call within communities of faith to change the culture which produced it. Not calling on WalMart not to sell the game, but rather calling on Christians to take a good look in te mirror.

[joe perez]

I guess I'm just too much over getting worked up over the latest homophobic missile from conservative religionists. If it's not Tinky Winky on Monday, it's Soy Protein on Tuesday, and Convert or Die on Wednesday. I just can't get worked up over it enough to protest. But someone should.

John G.: My ideal would be a both/and solution -- work to change the culture AND encourage Wal-Mart not to sell the game. And on the topic of changing the culture, this is a tough nut. Although I can't imagine how killing non-Christians could EVER be remotely considered orthodox Christian belief, the idea that GOD HIMSELF will smite the wicked, unbelieving masses at the Judgment is actually pretty orthodox. Most Americans say they believe in the Judgment and Hell and plenty believe in the rapture. Of course, most Americans don't believe in biological evolution, either.

[Cian]

What bothers me the most about the whole scenario is the "do or die" approach to religion.
What is revelation, really? The word itself means an awakening, an elightening or astonishing disclosure, a sudden realization. My personal belief is that the 4 horsemen of the apocolypse are simply the 4 elements of creation coming together, uniting to restore the balance.
As most of the biblical stories, there is was too much leeway for interpretation.
Though there are many paths, we all strive toward the same Light.

[Juno888]

Wanna read the book...Wanna know its insights..