Check this out to see what I mean.

There has been in incredible amount of MISINFORMATION published in the media and in online blogs here and elsewhere.

Pacifist Christians and other groups are taking the game material out of context to support their own causes. There is NO “killing in the name of God� and NO “convert or die�. There are NO “negative portrayals of Muslims� and there are NO “points for killing�.

Please play the game demo for yourself (to at least level 5 of 40) to get an accurate perspective, or listen to what CREDIBLE unbiased experts are saying after reviewing the game at http://www.leftbehindgames.com/pages/controversy.htm

Then, we’d love to hear your feedback as an informed player.

The reality is that we’re receiving reports everyday of how this game is positively affecting lives by all who play it.

Thank you for taking the time to be a responsible blogger.

t here.

“Push The Prayer Button” –
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/12/9/11214/8354/religious_war/Push_the_Prayer_Button
“What’s wrong with a video game that depicts a “defensive” religious war set in a real, contemporary US city that’s been recreated in loving detail – at least in terms of the physical features of the city – and which features game characters that look nothing like the real city residents they are supposed to depict and who do not bleed when they are killed, at close range, by assault weapons and whose corpses simply fade away from where they lie on the city streets ? What’s the big deal if the game is based on a bloodthirsty pop-culture series that’s been read by upwards of sixty million people ? So what if the game suggests that “secularism” is satanic and depicts a total war in which there can be no noncombatants ?

So what if this game sidesteps the moral and religious injunctions against killing by enabling players to do rote penance, when the game characters they command kill, by repetitively pressing a “prayer button” on their gaming joysticks ?”

“How Average Humans Can Be Conditioned To Carry Out Acts Of Mass Violence” : the title says it all. Selected research.

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/12/3/172216/885

“Recent research and scholarship suggests that ordinary humans have the capacity to carry out mass violence and that this capacity can be conditioned. Whitworth University professor James Waller, author of Becoming Evil : How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing has been one of the leaders in investigating the factors which seem to precede episodes of mass violence. Waller argues that the capacity for mass violence is a normal one and that it can be conditioned, or brought out, by various environmental factors including societal polarization and also the use of demonizing and dehumanizing language, and other forms of hate speech”

” Virtual religious, ethnic, and cultural cleansing in “Left Behind: Eternal Forces”"

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/12/4/182754/325

” “The conversion of socialized people into dedicated fighters is achieved not by altering their personality structures, aggressive drives or moral standards. Rather, it is accomplished by cognitively redefining the morality of killing so that it can be done free from self-censure. Through moral justification of violent means, people see themselves as fighting ruthless oppressors” – Albert Banduras

The following analysis examines various ways by which – by accident or by design – the “Left Behind: Eternal Forces” video game serves to demonize and dehumanize, as depicted in the game, the population of New York City.”

Best,
Bruce Wilson
Co-Founder, with Frederick Clarkson,
Talk To Action

I think this is what Yoder is trying to say when he talks about the shape of Christian witness taking concrete , specific forms. It does little good to walk into Congress and say, “stop the domination system!” but it might do some good to, say, ask for media protections, a rating system, etc. (And these are just examples, I’m not saying these are the best policies.) But, again, this cannot be our primary focus. Our primary focus needs to be in creating local communities that witness to the possibility of alternative media and interactions with media. Our policy recommendations can then be formulated from the experience of those communities.