LEAVE IT BEHIND
New Video Game: What Were They Thinking?

Those wacky guys from the 'Left Behind' series apparently have their own video game coming out, and it ain't pretty:

This game immerses children in present-day New York City -- 500 square blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the United Nations headquarters, and Harlem. The game rewards children for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian. The game also offers players the opportunity to switch sides and fight for the army of the AntiChrist, releasing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on conservative Christians and their panicked proselytes (who taste a lot like Christian).


Is this paramilitary mission simulator for children anything other than prejudice and bigotry using religion as an organizing tool to get people in a violent frame of mind? The dialogue includes people saying, "Praise the Lord," as they blow infidels away.

Quite honestly, when I first saw it I thought "spoof". As did the guys at the website linked above:

In this way, the game resembles a send-up of Christian-themed video games by "The Simpsons." "Billy Graham's Bible Blaster," is a first-person shooter game in which you fire Bibles at club-carrying heathens to convert them into card-carrying Republicans.

According to an interview with spokesman Derek Asato this whole turn the other cheek thing is overrated:

The promoters suggest Jesus' commandment that his followers should "turn the other cheek" has been misunderstood.

"The Bible says you do not have to stand there and let someone kill you," said Derek Asato, a spokesman for Left Behind Games.

"Jesus did not say you have to let yourself be a punching bag or murder victim," Mr. [Troy] Lyndon said in a telephone interview.

I suppose it goes to show that people can convince themselves that pretty much anything is a good idea:

Asked whether the goal of "Eternal Forces" is to lead people to Christianity, Mr. Lyndon said: "Our focus is more on the teachings of Jesus, and his prayers for hope, love and peace, than on proselytizing."

He said his company hopes to sell about 500,000 games, priced at $49.95 each. A main target for marketing will be so-called "megachurches," which have thousands of members.

I guess you can chalk one up for the Antichrist with this one.