Life and Thoughts of The One Ocean

Violent Christian video game shocks US

10:34 Wednesday 13th December 2006

A new computer game in which players must kill or convert non-Christians is causing controversy in the US.

Liberal and progressive Christian groups are calling for retail giant Wal-Mart to pull the game from its shelves.

The game - Left Behind: Eternal Forces - is based on the Book of Revelation when Jesus has taken his people to heaven and left nonbelievers behind to face the Antichrist.

The Campaign to Defend the Constitution and the Christian Alliance for Progress are urging Wal-Mart to take it off sale, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Clark Stevens, co-director of the Campaign to Defend the Constitution, said: "It pushes a message of religious intolerance."

And Christian Alliance for Progress president, the Rev Tim Simpson, added: "So, under the Christmas tree this year for little Johnny is this allegedly Christian video game teaching Johnny to hate and kill?"

Left Behind Games' president Jeffrey Frichner insists the game is actually pacifist because players lose 'spirit points' every time they gun down nonbelievers instead of converting them.

"You are fighting a defensive battle in the game," he said. "You are a sort of a freedom fighter."

Wal-Mart has no plans to pull Left Behind: Eternal Forces from any of the 200 of its 3,800 stores that offer the game.

"We look at the community to see where it will sell," said spokeswoman Tara Raddohl. "We have customers who are buying it and really haven't received a lot of complaints about it from our customers at this time."

posted by The One Ocean @ 12/13/2006 12:45:00 PM