VIOLENT video games ARE HORRIBLE!!!!

Interesting indeed. Seems violence has become less apalling than sex. But lets stay focused, seems many have put the church before christ. its not about the word but about getting them into the building (by use of deception)and then we will give them the WORD! Salvation doesn't really interest the world as much as Halo does. Video Games are fun, they can be used as a tool for fellowship, but choice of games can make a difference. While there are many versions of Alice in Wonderland...the X rated version is not the one i purchased for my children.

I believe that most of the people who are responding to this blog-post should be classified as insane or at least mentally incompetent. What Ms. Tenety does is write about her own personal spiritual journey which all of you have decided was important enough to not only read, but to respond to. To berate a young women who is willing enough to share her innermost spiritual and personal feelings is more than deplorable, it is downright shameful. Maybe if Jimbo spent a little less time attacking a young women and a little more time searching his own spirituality the world would be a better place.
Keep up the good work Ms. Tenety.
Don't let the bastards keep you down!

Wakka Wakka,
Everyone says finding one's faith is a personal journey, but I ask you, would you even KNOW about faith if you were to never engage in a community exercise with like minded people (i.e. MASS, a family that practices religion, lock-ins, retreats)?

If you were isolated from the entire world, would you still find christian (or any mainstream) faith?

Everyone can say finding faith is a personal journey, but it is laced with the interactions you have with groups of people. That was my point in reference to the blog post which was specifically discussing the author's "How to make jesus more relevant to the youth". The author brought in examples of church efforts to RECRUIT youth to build COMMUNITY. If you don't think video games create community, I encourage you to go to a lot of the old folks homes that are buying Nintendo Wii's by the boatload.

So do COMMUNITY activities "enrich one's fellowship in God?" I don't agree with your "obviously not." With group activity comes comradery. With comradery comes compassion. With compassion comes love. Don't people say "God is Love"? Does it matter if the activity is violent or not? People become closer to each other through violent activities (same platoon, same hunting trip, same team playing Halo) as well as non-violent (camping, hanging out, same sports team). Are these practices the same as the traditional pray at meals, bedtime, and practice the sabbath activities that enhance your relationship with God at a personal level? No.

Besides, her blog post didn't claim this is done "AS a focus of one's faith" she was responding to a NYTimes article about the use of Halo as a RECRUITMENT tool, and NOT "PRAY 2 JESUS BY PLAYING AS TEH MASTER CHIEF IN HALO!!!1!one!!" as you have posited. And her blog post didn't add anything to the discussion of the NYT article other than "Hey everyone, did you read this? Are they serious?! This is deplorable..." end of blog post. She even referenced ignoring "investigative journalism" So what can it be classified as? Opinion. So why even blog under the auspices of "investigative journalism" if you aren't going to practice it.

NYT synopsis: Halo as Recruitment
Her point: Recruitment method is an abomination
My point: vehicles and psychology behind recruitment techniques
Your point: Halo doesn't bring you closer to God

I'll let you decide who's off topic.

Looks like CHIEFJIMBO missed the point entirely. Does a LAN party (particularly of an albeit entertaining, but nonethless violent, game such as Halo 3) genuinely enrich one's fellowship in God? The answer is 'obviously not', it's just a sought reason to play video games. Which is perfectly acceptable, I mean church youth groups do all kinds of non-religious stuff in addition to the faith focus. But claiming this is done AS a focus on one's faith is pretty laughable. And there's the actual point for you.

So you can harp all you want on whether Churchgoers should be hunting or killing 'God's creations', or irrelevantly whining about blogs, but you didn't really say anything about the actual issue here.

Shared experience (good or bad) whether they be camping, paintballing, video gaming, waiting in line, or even sitting in the same room form cohesive bonds. Whatever stimulus you are presented as group, the response is positive for most of the participants.

Do participants in LAN gatherings go out and start killing people? Think about killing people? The data do not show it to be so. Heightened adrenaline may be, but heightened comradery at some level definitely.

Should church folk participate in virtual violence? "Thou shall not kill virtual enemies." Should church folk hunt? That's violence against animals. How about killing that spider that lives in your basement? We may rule over god's creations but does that mean we have the right to snuff out His creations?

In any event, is this diatribe what passes now in Medill's New Media Program? It's not by any means investigative nor is it journalism. It's typical "troll" blog authoring. The author provides no insight to the topic, just "Hey, this was reported on and this is crap!" Also the lead was weak and the "witty" swipes serve only as to interrupt the flow of the article. But then again the flow was more stream of consciousness anyway. Otherwise, the author could have at least asked a friend "Hey, do you play Halo? Do you know somebody who does, I'd like to find out more on this piece I'm writing", and received better info than the manual and online reviews especially info that pertains to experiential testimonies from people who have actually played Halo in a group setting.

There are numerous books on the subject of how to blog but one of the most concise articles on it I found here:
http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/geek-to-live-write-effectively-for-the-web-134549.php

I trust Medill is pumping out quality New Media creators and not low quality bloviators.

"And yet, there are people trying to convince us that there is but one true way to worship corretly. Am I the only one who finds that ironic ..?"

-And there's plenty of people insisting there's no divine power and that all faith is stupid.

Who cares? Both are part of the dumbest discussion that happens around here, which is, alas, probably the most common.

How can you criticize something you haven't even played? Basically you already had your mind made up and then wrote your 'story'. This is not journalism.

Secondly, Halo is a GAME. The news is much more violent than watching cartoon characters get blown up with rocket launchers and laser beams. It does not evoke feelings of hate or violence like a true war, so stop treating it as if that's what it is. It is just a game, and anyone that had ever actually played it would know that. Try writing about something you have an ounce of knowledge about next time.

How can you criticize something you haven't even played? Basically you already had your mind made up and then wrote your 'story'. This is not journalism.

Secondly, Halo is a GAME. The news is much more violent than watching cartoon characters get blown up with rocket launchers and laser beams. It does not evoke feelings of hate or violence like a true war, so stop treating it as if that's what it is. It is just a game, and anyone that had ever actually played it would know that. Try writing about something you have an ounce of knowledge about next time.

There are 80 some posts here, by people of belief and people of less so. Only 80. Even taking only the postings by the "believers" into consideration it's evident that no consensus or anything resembling it can be reached. That should hardly come as a surprise. And yet, there are people trying to convince us that there is but one true way to worship corretly. Am I the only one who finds that ironic ..?

There are 80 some posts here, by people of belief and people of less so. Only 80. Even taking only the postings by the "believers" into consideration it's evident that no consensus or anything resembling it can be reached. That should hardly come as a surprise. And yet, there are people trying to convince us that there is but one true way to worship corretly. Am I the only one who finds that ironic ..?

As an avid gamer myself (and an admittedly not-so-avid church goer), even I have to agree with Ms. Tenety. this is a blatant conflict of interests. A church can not teach peace, love, and other philosophies of Jesus while catering to acts of violence, whether simulated or otherwise. Simply put, I doubt very seriously that anyone would condone a violent Rated-R movie to be shown at the church "in the name of fellowship."

Am I saying that video games should not be used or played in the attempt to attract youth to church oriented programs? No. There are plenty of competitive video games that don't have violence in them that would be perfectly fine. The issue here is the choice of video game. Fundamentally, an organization should not use something that goes against its own ideology as a tool for its own benefit.

Liz...as a graduate of Jesuit schooling (and yes, a drop out of a seminary) I would just point out to you that you have discovered the great dichotomy of the very notion of religion.

Religion just doesn't fit humanity...it isn't how God designed us or intends us to live. You have discovered this inadvertently but none the less dramatically.

Providing an outlet for agression is a poor substitute for training that agression out of the people - unless, UNLESS God is preparing us for the Ultimate Battle by channeling and honing our agression.

Eventually he will use us to fight a war against evil (wherin we will also do evil) so that his "choosen" on some far distant planet do not have to soil their hands and minds with doing that evil!

THAT is how God does business with us!

As a religious individual and a long-time casual gamer, I can't scoff hard enough at this concept.

Though I feel it's hardly worth talking about in-depth. The fact of the matter is it's not any more SCARY than what youth already play in video games (just a change in setting), and it's simply a weak fad -- like many churches do these days -- to try and attract people with glitz, entertainment, and fun. It doesn't work, and time will prove me right, as their numbers dwindle in the future, like all grassroots Christian movements in American history.

And I say that because there is nothing this sort of "fellowship" (and sadly, many other evangelical/fundamentalist/etc communities in the world) offers in the way of real spiritual substance. They may try to blend creature comforts into the "fellowship" or services, which detracts completely from the Christian message, or harp on hot-button issues, like that's really what Jesus was preaching on... rather than actually being upstanding humans and fellow citizens according to those actual teachings.

Video games aren't even linked to real-life violence anyway, so this whole thing is just a bunch of lazy teens with an uncreative religious youth leader doing what they always do and pretending it can somehow be considered holy, charitable and/or grace-giving in the eyes of God.

At worst, I'll await "1337 H4XORZ 4 CHRIST" starting a cyber-crusde in the near future :)

Muslims? The game (I haven't played it, or seen it played, but I've heard about it, which I guess here qualifies me to pontificate) is about stopping warmongering UN-hating religious radicals who see themselves ascending to heaven when the Earth is destroyed, and in your blind pride you think they represent "Islamofascists"? How left behind can you be?

Jesus would kill none while adhereing to "Give on to Ceaser what is Ceasers" thus obey the law, pay your taxes.

I agree with the concerns some have voiced about the gratuitous violence and questionable premise of Halo.

Nonetheless, if young people are socializing by getting together for LAN sessions, again I say there's a valuable opportunity for dialogue on the moral and spiritual issues raised by the game. And this kind of dialogue can easily segue from the game world into the real world.

And I'll also say again that this must be a DIAlogue. Young people, amazingly enough, seem to prefer being listened to rather than preached at. Even more astonishing, they have some things to say that their elders (both in and out of churches) ought to hear.

These kinds of opportunities can then be win-win for both groups.

Elizabeth .. That there being those whom prey on young minds( by any means )in that nothing new. Acts of sexual abuse against children be a clear picture that based on knowledge,within a mature understanding,being balanced in fair judgement. With acts of religious abuse the picture not so clear,the ongoing cunning as deceit of religious organizations be a cancer,over the centuries it has eaten into the very bowels of humanity,such the extent of corruption,that Governments fund as support religious organizations,funding them as allowing free access to teaching as learning centres,where young minds being poisoned,damage to the brain, reach appalling levels,its ability of further service in a childs development being greatly reduced.Humanities Spiritual Development being no easy task,it long a story,as a journey.

Most of these arguments take the road of moral relativism to make their point: ie, Halo is a game and not as bad as X.

The fact is, if Halo was extremely popular because it allowed alien Romans hunt down an alien Christ, giving this desirous demographic the opportunity to score points by flogging the Lord. we would be debating about whether this game resulted in fellowship among the post-pubescents.

Killing is killing. Allowing congregants to participate in the action in any way shape or form is not appropriate to church.

Maybe we should develop games that give the boys the chance to hunt down and shoot Terrorists. Or Muslims in general. Or Jews. Or Gay Episcopalians. The possibilities are endless.

Most of these arguments take the road of moral relativism to make their point: ie, Halo is a game and not as bad as X.

The fact is, if Halo was extremely popular because it allowed alien Romans hunt down an alien Christ, giving this desirous demographic the opportunity to score points by flogging the Lord. we would be debating about whether this game resulted in fellowship among the post-pubescents.

Dsigusting.

Why is everyone complaining about the author not investigating Halo more closely? If it was drugs, would you say that it was sloppy journalism because she did not try a snort?

That videogames are addictive is not even worth debating since many game writers have discussed at length how making the games addictive is the number one priority of their publisher - and for obvious reasons. That violent video games lead to some increased violent moods is also documented. (A not-so-fun experiment you can try at home: make a 10 year old stop playing his favorite videogame.)

But the issue is not whether videogames are good or bad, just that they do not lead us to think about God or anything related to religion - so why make that the basis for a religious fellowship? (At least hallucinogenic drugs make some people reflect upon their relationship with the universe.)

Lord, protect us from thy followers.....

This makes it abundantly clear that the cristian church is moral and ethical vacuum. It's a giant psychological Ponzi scheme, dedicated to drawing more people into it, at any cost and by any means necessary.

It's simply apalling. The world would be a much more humane place to live if all religion was banned, and each of us had to actually think for ourselves instead of having a moral code forced on us by old white men.

i can see the effectiveness of using video games in attracting children to churches. they work in attracting kids to the video game sales sections of walmarts, kmarts, and just about any other retail outlet. the question here is whether attracting children to church by using a video game that requires they kill members of a fundamentalist religeous sect is the appropriate way of selling children on religion. this is a means of indoctrinating children, not enlightening them, expanding their horizons, or giving them means of more deeply connecting with their faith.

i can see the effectiveness of using video games in attracting children to churches. they work in attracting kids to the video game sales sections of walmarts, kmarts, and just about any other retail outlet. the question here is whether attracting children to church by using a video game that requires they kill members of a fundamentalist religeous sect is the appropriate way of selling children on religion. this is a means of indoctrinating children, not enlightening them, expanding their horizons, or giving them means of more deeply connecting with their faith.

i can see the effectiveness of using video games in attracting children to churches. they work in attracting kids to the video game sales sections of walmarts, kmarts, and just about any other retail outlet. the question here is whether attracting children to church by using a video game that requires they kill members of a fundamentalist religeous sect is the appropriate way of selling children on religion. this is a means of indoctrinating children, not enlightening them, expanding their horizons, or giving them means of more deeply connecting with their faith.

Please don't be so naive to think you're in the better half. There are good people in this world and there are evil. How the mix falls into religious and non-religious only God knows.

Please don't be so naive to think you're in the better half. There are good people in this world and there are evil. How the mix falls into religious and non-religous only God knows.

first Jesus would not kill anyone but His Father did not seem to be bothered by killing.
and despite what the king james version of the bible says - and others - the 10 commandments do not have one that says "thou shall not KILL." the proper translation is not MURDER, or not TAKE INNOCENT LIFE.

It's not surprising this topic has generated so much discussion. But why should anyone care what the post's author has to say about it? She herself admits that she didn't do any real research. Reading an article in the NYT and looking at the Bungie website does not make her an expert on the subject matter. Several of her assertions about the game's plot and setting are factually incorrect. Halo 3 made $170 million the first day it was out; she's a college student, and she doesn't know anyone who bought it?

As a gamer I find her attitude offensive. If these churches were screening Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings as part of their youth programs, would there be a story in the New York Times about it, or an ill-informed blog post on the Post's website?

RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING IT TOUCHES!!

What happened to the good old days when the fundamentalist churches burned record albums that they thought were Satanic?

Seems to me that it would be much more effective to have an "XBOX 360" burning party at the church. Come on kids, bring 'em in. Burn baby, burn!

Yeah, exactly! Locomoco's got it right on this one, I think. Just checking back anyway. And Nate, with all due respect, I think it's a pretty big shortchanging of the Bible, even as (I suspect) an agnostic or atheist, to say that it is simply filled with pointless violence. It still is a very good set of principles on which to base one's life. But that of course is not the point (and your opinion still stands). The point, like L.c.m.c. said, is that the importance of this program is what the kids involved will draw from it.

I'm also a little disappointed, as I realize it, that nobody actually thought to ponder the opinions of the teens. I don't know, it seems flawed to be so disinterested in that.

"Which Aliens Would Jesus Kill?
Faithbook | Before you buy that Xbox for Xmas, consider Halo -- the new video game drawing church teens into holy war."

-taken from wapo internet page linked to this page.

ugly ugly ugly..

Halo is no different than the Bible itself -- filled with pointless violence.

Ah think I'll defer to Allah on that one, thank ya very much! What do ya say Allah?

When I was a teenager, the big church a mile down the road started a coffeehouse and hosted live music every Saturday night. It was very popular with high schoolers in the area. (This was the last few years of the '60s, but thank heavens, terminal flower-child geezerhood does not disqualify one from still being a college student.)

They also had rock concerts in the gym every month or so. This got us interested in getting together and starting our own garage bands so we could play at these concerts. Four or five good bands came out of those church-sponsored concerts where we honed our chops. Heck, I was already playing the pipe organ at church and it was a blast to start playing a cheesy Farfisa in a rock band too!

We even ended up touring various churches around the state putting on a rock worship service during the day followed with a dance that evening.

The result of this youth outreach ministry was that when we had youth service in the gym every Sunday, there were anywhere from 150-170 kids, sometimes more than the regular main service.

Then I went off to college, the youth minister moved on and for some reason he wasn't replaced. And when I came back in the summer, the whole thing had folded. What a shame.

The key back then was the very same as it is now: meet the kids "where they're at". Give them a natural reason to come around and hang out. Once you do that, then you can start to engage them in some spiritual dialogue. (In this case, perhaps asking the kids what THEIR thoughts are about the philosophy behind the game?? Wow, what a novel concept!)

If youth pastors think video games can help create the opportunity for those types of dialogues, it's worth a try.

Ohhh wow. I actually had no idea that any church would host a Halo party. I don't know... I've played once or twice, it can be fun but it's very obviously addictive so you just think to yourself, "there is more meaning to life than simulated killing," and walk away. Not terribly hard. Anyways... the Halo players I know are not violent or immoral, some are really upstanding guys, in fact. So just to let you know, Halo doesn't really contradict morality. And honestly, yeah, the ends justify the means in teenage religiousness, because I recently sat in a classroom with 24 other kids and an embattled senior citizen for three months. She tried as hard as she could to get across the genuine importance of morality while cell phones rang and little games on Blackberries or other twerpy little mechanical mistakes were played over and over. The kids didn't even hide their laughter over their hollow delights as the teacher grew frustrated. She nearly cried one time.
It just made me angry that these kids, with their brains rotting from gray matter's candy, somehow expected to pass an examination (yes, we had one... due to weak showing of religious dedication in our grade) and, more importantly, considered themselves worth saving. Honestly, it would take the temper of Jesus to let them into Heaven. They're fortunate that he is the decider on this one.
But you know what? If you can get these kids to actually work together as a team on a fun project, make church a respite and teamwork the only option for success, what do you get? Kids who will start learning, in the most bizarre ways, what it is to be a Christian, why we value community and brotherly love. WAWJK? The one about to take out his teammate? No, of course not. But which one would a good Christian kill? Well, just maybe....

After reading all these comments - and from a perspective of an American that has been out of the country for 16 years - I can only say that the US is in big trouble. Whew!

Anon,

Uh, last I checked, only one person has the power to condemn anyone to Hell. Now, do I believe Hitler to be in Hell? I would assume he didn't have a personal relationship with Christ, based on his actions.

BTW: Was that website a jr. high school project?

There is a story (attributed to one of the rulers of ancient Rome) :

A general in Africa wrote to the emperor
that he had only so many ships. He could
either send back grain for the starving
masses or wild animals for the Circus.
What should he do?

The emperor replied with scorn and anger:
"You fool, the animals first: the people
must have their games and blood !!"

For anyone out there with the power left to think,
this might be of some interest.

Ki-Jana: Any of you fellas condemn people to hell, Hitler maybe?

Hitler noticed it was a matter of who will send whom to hell. Mr Bush set out to send Hussein to hell. Has he? Is America headed for heaven or hell? What's the fellas up to these days, training hard for the big crusade? I'll bet most will want to burn their draft cards.

History is written by the winners so the losers are always the bad guys. When Jesus comes again will those who support Him be on God's side or the side of Devil? All you have to answer is the Bible, and a few odd docs left out.

Jesus was fathered by the supernatural being in the ball of fire, the one Moses made the deal with to become the most important person that ever lived. Was that being God or could it have been Devil?

Check it out at http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul When the big fight comes at the end of the world you'll need to know. The stakes are the highest anyone could dream up, an eternity of being on fire, burning without burning up. Odd, that's the distinguishing characteristic of God, bush burning but not burning up, same ones as hell.

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Mr Bush rushed into Iraq. Angels knew better.

Which aliens would Jesus send back into hunger and poverty just because of national borders?

God. You folks miss the whole point of church, spiritually, video games, and friendship. This is not about video games v. camping. This is simply about the lack of discipline. Hell if you can't leave the camping or video games home for a few hours to do something for God then your pathetic.

Jesus. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son". What are you willing to give to God? Couple of hours out of your week?

Please... talk about real things.

God. You folks miss the whole point of church, spiritually, video games, and friendship. This is not about video games v. camping. This is simply about the lack of discipline. Hell if you can't leave the camping or video games home for a few hours to do something for God then your pathetic.

Jesus. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son". What are you willing to give to God? Couple of hours out of your week?

Please... talk about real things.

Maybe fellowship was a key theme to the Nazi's, but to use it in the context that Norrie is using it is absolutely absurd. I fellowship at my church, at work, and with a wide, diverse group of friends. Oooohhhhh, could it be we've been brainwashed by Hitler's cronies?

I would laugh at Norrie's statement if it wasn't so sad and disturbing.

The following paragraph comes from the OSU web site mentioned above by Heavens To Betsy:

The packages were put together by a fundamentalist Christian ministry called Operation Straight Up, or OSU. Headed by former kickboxer Jonathan Spinks, OSU is an official member of the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program. The group has staged a number of Christian-themed shows at military bases, featuring athletes, strongmen and actor-turned-evangelist Stephen Baldwin. But thanks in part to the support of the Pentagon, Operation Straight Up has now begun focusing on Iraq, where, according to its website (on pages taken down last week), it planned an entertainment tour called the "Military Crusade."

If that ain't establishing religion it cain't be established.

All religion is devil worship as proved at http://www.hoax-buster.org/sellyoursoul

"Nothing beats good old reality"

Right Emil.

Like drawing a cartoon and getting death threats?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPaeu4RMdFo

wake up people!
dont you know
there is a great relationship between violent video games and the killings that have been going on in schools...... there is
alot of serious research in this issue.

video games were first developed to immunize soldiers from the effects of killings....... and today almost every kid plays those violent video games, just think!

the issue is serious and complex.

today the video game industry is bigger than the Hollywood film industry

Norrie -

If you have to bring up the SS and the Nazis, you've already lost the argument. I shouldn't need to even dignify this with a response.

Every human endeavour (good or evil) requires fellowship to make its organizations cohere. Without fellowship, any operations of any variety are doomed to failure. This applies to churches, countries, civil rights groups, whatever.

Nothing beats good old reality, where religious fanatics have killed more real people than any gamer have done in Halo.
When governments all over the world uses "God" for a reason to go to war, this seem pretty harmless in comparison

greetings from cold Sweden

'“Playing Halo is ‘no different than going on a camping trip,’ said Kedrick Kenerly, founder of Christian Gamers Online, an Internet site whose central themes are video games and religion. It’s a way to fellowship."

**************************

John Griffith (Bright) wrote:

"...you would be better served to attend a gaming group and observe the fellowship before you dismiss its value. Online reviews and Halo's website are unlikely to provide relevant data on fellowship in gaming."

Fellowship was central to the organization and operations of the SS and the Gestapo, not to mention the violence in "Lord of the Flies".

'“Playing Halo is ‘no different than going on a camping trip,’ said Kedrick Kenerly, founder of Christian Gamers Online, an Internet site whose central themes are video games and religion. It’s a way to fellowship."

**************************

John Griffith (Bright) wrote:

"...you would be better served to attend a gaming group and observe the fellowship before you dismiss its value. Online reviews and Halo's website are unlikely to provide relevant data on fellowship in gaming."

Fellowship was central to the organization and operations of the SS and the Gestapo, not to mention the violence in "Lord of the Flies".

'“Playing Halo is ‘no different than going on a camping trip,’ said Kedrick Kenerly, founder of Christian Gamers Online, an Internet site whose central themes are video games and religion. It’s a way to fellowship."

**************************

John Griffith (Bright) wrote:

"...you would be better served to attend a gaming group and observe the fellowship before you dismiss its value. Online reviews and Halo's website are unlikely to provide relevant data on fellowship in gaming."

Fellowship was central to the organization and operations of the SS and the Gestapo, not to mention the violence in "Lord of the Flies".

'“Playing Halo is ‘no different than going on a camping trip,’ said Kedrick Kenerly, founder of Christian Gamers Online, an Internet site whose central themes are video games and religion. It’s a way to fellowship."

**************************

John Griffith (Bright) wrote:

"...you would be better served to attend a gaming group and observe the fellowship before you dismiss its value. Online reviews and Halo's website are unlikely to provide relevant data on fellowship in gaming."

Fellowship was central to the organization and operations of the SS and the Gestapo, not to mention the violence in "Lord of the Flies".

gotta go ... but honest ... I've had to hold my belly a couple of times in the last few days ... I felt I was Jack Nickolson in that scene in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" ... you know the scene ... when the're having a session and the one guy is talking about suspecting his wife ...

... anyway ... look forward to the next session boys and girls ...

until then I'm going to try to get Nurse Ratchet to turn the game on ... later!

GODTOLDMETO --

You wonder why ... ;) ... kidding, right?

You don't think Mel Gibson did The Passion' out of devotion, do you? ... it's $$$$$ baby ... best form of advertisment is word-of-mouth ... and what better word-of-mouth strategy than tying a product to some controversial forum ...

... and don't you dare encourage them to stop this controversy ... this is funny stuff, dude

I wonder why the storytellers of Halo would select religion as a vehicle to cause anamosity and hatred amongst otherwise civilized peoples?

Could it be that they were students of human history? I'd suggest they were.

It's time for humanity to grow up and out of it's infantile need for an "invisible friend in the sky". Lest we become the covenant, and in some distant future we launch ourselves to the stars to bring "civilization" to some poor unsuspecting species.

Wake up people!

Matt --

"Any way that is needed to bring people, youth together ..."

Just asking ... do you see a need for drawing lines? ...

if video-games are arguably instrumental in bringing youth together ... would it be reasonable to hold bible studies at Hooters for those of the non-video-game persuasion?

Enjoyed the article. Very funny. I hope that's what you were going for.

Fallucination,
You have my sincerest apologies. However, I said "most of the comments" earlier.

Att: V I C T O R I A & ET AL:

Hello Cyber Friend(s) & Real Friends:

Please know that "Collaborative" LAN {Local Area Networking" or Narrow_Band "GAMING" for the average or Medium "Teen_age" and whereever on Space_Ship Earth THEY may be & having "CLEAN_FUN" is better then having Pre_Kindergarden & PRE_FIFTH GRADERS to watch a VIDEO of those "HEZBULLAH & HAMMAS" MADE "Kill Israelis & all Jwews" {Similar taught or brainwashing such} ANTi_HUMANITY & ANTi_CIVILIZATION "Mickey_Mouse" satanic AVATARS or their ilks!

Note: My Twelver ole sometimes (much less than before) goes to a "GAME_ROOM" on a Prepaid site called "RUINSCAPE" similar & THERE THEY "Barter & Trade" and they also act like AL quada or hunt them down!???

Honestlt: I trust my son to know the difference between "APOCALYPTIC_THINKERS" aka ECLATi_Ons or ECLATAIANS" and to dicern from the "PREAPOCALYPTARIANS" like real ABRAHAMIC Religious folk & the VEDIC Dharma Brahama Buddah folk et al copy cats! SO:

I do not know what he does nor do I put my nose in his GAMING_ACTIVITIES! I TRUST HIM! He knows "not" to mix HIS "TRANSFINITY (Reality) LIFE that is MIRACLE & ZERO BIBLICAL preapocalyptic as if SIN and the CYBER_DIGITAL_WORLD! ncludes "Virtual_Reality too!

PS: I know some kids go_on line for "Stress_Realese" Some are mad at teachers or any of their peers {hence peer_pressure} or even "Mom and or Dad" or sibling etc > So when one is "snowed_in" then what?

BEHOLD SISTER(S) & BROTHER(S) : The "INTERNET" & THUS "TCP_IP" is an ECLATARIAN invention! YA ya!

WELCOME to AMERICA WORLD!

May Xtra_Photons shine on AMERICA & FRIENDS!

Victoria -

Give me a break. Halo 3 is not practice for killing Muslims any more than Space Invaders is practice for killing Soviets. Beleive it or not, fictional universes are able to exist without drawing DIRECT parellels to modern times. Besides, the idea for Halo has been around a lot longer than has our modern "War on Terror." If anything, the Islamofacists are copying Halo and using it as their strategy to destroy our freedoms (TM). If we don't do something soon, they might get themselves some space ships and start bombing us from orbit!

Oh wait. You mean people can distinguish between games and reality? NO WAY!

On a related note - the minister's attempt to engage in a discussion of good and evil through the prism of Halo strikes me as a somewhat ham-handed approach to the issue. I could see how it could work really well, but Evangelists (in particular, though other varieties of conservative Christians do the same thing, *ahem*) tend to be rather crude in their ability to construct analogies or extrapolate general principles from a specific story (fictional or real). I'm reminded of the assault on Harry Potter for having unGodly magical elements, or the attack on The Lord of the Rings for not explicitly including Jesus. When Evangelicals realized that JRR Tolkien (for example) was actually devoutly religious, it was amusing how quickly they changed tunes. Of course, their interpretation (Sauron = Satan, Gandalf/Aragorn = Jesus) belies the actual subtleties Tolkein develops in his stories. Boromir's fall and redemption, for example, is much more powerful when taken in its own context, rather than some forced analogy to a biblical character.

America is overpaying for Christian mercenaries to kill indiscriminately, greasing the wheels to allow its own agencies to torture, outsourcing the REALLY dirty stuff to our "allies" like Egypt, all the while wrapping itself in all the Christianity it can strap on, and you're still on about video games?

I play Halo; I LOVE Halo. I don't hate anybody, I adore animals, I visit my parents every weekend, I'm very active in peace activism, and I find it very, very entertaining to lay waste to vast swaths of computer-generated graphics when I get the chance.

Betsy,

That's it! You've done it! Teens everywhere should start engaging in "safe" sex because some random number of people you may or may not have known in high school, appeared to have sex, which in turn, appeared to draw them away from violent activities.

You might as well have said that teens should have sex because you may or may not be color blind.

And how "safe" is something when the manufacturer goes to great pains to express to the consumer that the product might not work?

Playing Halo has nothing to do with Christian fellowship... In fact, it is a complete atrophy of the brain, a much too common affliction affecting our youth (and also the not so young).

If you want to encourage true Christian fellowship... go help the poor, feed the hungry, assist the sick and infirm. Otherwise, just bring on the booze, the porn and any other vice that is antithetical to Jesus' teachings.

ERRINF --

"Writing an article on a