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Fire and Brimstone: Pastor Advocates Game Burning

Posted by Cole Stryker



Well hell and damnation! Another church leader has called for a good old fashioned media barbecue.

Pastor Richard Patrick seems to focus his attention on hip hop, but he also targets video games. In his defense, he seems much more interested in making a positive impact in his community than stirring up scandal for attention. In other words, he's no Jack Thompson:

The problems ... are bad. I think they have got worse. Last year was pretty bad. ... Domestic violence is a big issue. A lot of the problems in this community are drug-related because it trickles down. I also think a lot of the problem is a lack of job opportunities in the community — hopefully that will change in the future. There is also a lack of outlets for youth. If you come here in the afternoon, you just see young people everywhere but with nowhere to go or nothing to do.

Wouldn't video games, even violent ones provide an outlet? I used to volunteer at an urban outreach program. We used semi-violent (think Halo) games all the time to great results. I never once observed actual violent behavior in any of the kids during or after gameplay. If anything, it provided a release, allowing them to get out some of their agression in a safe, friendly environment. I know I'm not breaking new ground here with this argument, but there it is.

Between this and the Church's recent affinity for introducing their younger congregants to Halo 3, Christianity's strained relationship with the gaming subculture is set to continue. For more on this subject, check out Headshots 4 Jesus, an article I wrote a while back about the bizarre relationship between the church and interactive media.


Comments

Sean said:

"Domestic violence is a big issue."

Correct.

"A lot of the problems in this community are drug-related..."

Absolutely.

"I also think a lot of the problem is a lack of job opportunities in the community..."

Couldn't agree with you more.

And so let's demonize media... Volumes could be written on the logical leap required to bridge the gap between cogent socioeconomic concern and "BURN THE WITCH! WHICH WITCH? WHATEVER WITCH!"

June 18, 2008 10:09 AM

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  • about the blogger

    John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

    Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

    Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

    Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

    Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

    Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

    Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

    Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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