New video game’s objective: Stop the spread of Christianity and Islam
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New video game's objective: Stop spread of Christianity...
The new game, not yet released, is giving a voice to the atheist community, that?s according to the game?s creator, a University of Virginia graduate student. The object of the game is to stop the...
A video image released by the computer game’s creator showing an injured man may not appear to be graphic, but you may change your mind once you know who it is. It’s the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
The new game, not yet released, is giving a voice to the atheist community, that’s according to the game’s creator, a University of Virginia graduate student. He wouldn’t release his name, for fear of his safety.
“Atheists have never really had anything to speak for them like this. It’s the general atheist premise that the world might be a better place without some of those religions,” explained the creator of the game.
The object of the game is to stop the spread of Christianity and Islam by murdering Abraham and the authors of the Bible, before beheading Muhammad.
“This really just mirrors, you know, a lot of violence that we see,” explained the creator.
Barkley Thompson is a Reverend at Saint John’s Episcopal Church in downtown Roanoke. After hearing about the game and seeing its images he says it’s a sign of the times.
“I think that the images speak of a culture that as become obsessed with violence, I think that it is true in all demographics, but it seems to me particularly true of younger age groups,” said Thompson.
However, the game’s creator argues the game is not just violent and it has a message to young players, helping them imagine a time when the world’s two largest religions were new and less organized.
“It’s the idea of being able to go back in time and sort of nipping the problem in the bud,” said the game’s creator.
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Reader Reactions
This game is not a voice for the atheist community. I am a proud, atheist freethinker, and I can appreciate the frustration of those who see religion poisoning our society and culture. However, I abhor the idea of someone assuming all atheists, including me, believe this game somehow speaks to the fundamental ideals of atheism. It is simply not true.
Note that I do not completely denounce violence in video games, movies, literature, etc. It makes a storyline tenuous and interesting, for an appropriate audience. But this use seem trite and the storyline is overused. Also, a video game which actually speaks for atheism, if possible at all, would by fairly boring. Thinking rationally and actively is interesting to do, not so much to watch a character do while pressing XBox buttons.
To say “Atheists have never really had anything to speak for them like this.“ is audacious. There are phenomenal books and even some movies which are truly enlightening and entertaining, while have helped shaped my ideals and given me, and I’m sure many other freethinkers, the experience to really think about questions about religion, philosophy, science, etc. Material by Dawkins, Hitchens, Darwin, Sagan, Kurzweil, Einstein, Dennett, Russell, Strawson… (shall I go on?). A video game, particularly one with an overused and cliche story type as this one, will not begin to show the values of freethinkers.
This type of thing is just ammunition for the religious advocates to pull out and support their claim that atheists are evil and incapable of morality. The atheist community must continue to show that we are rational, moral people with the intellectual high ground over contradictory and prejudiced dogma.
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