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By Mimi Hanaoka
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Tuesday, December 26, 2006 |
"It's an incredibly violent video game… Sure, there is no blood. (The
dead just fade off the screen.) But you are mowing down your enemy with a gun.
It pushes a message of religious intolerance. You can either play for the 'good
side' by trying to convert nonbelievers to your side or join the
Antichrist." —Clark
Stevens, co-director of the Campaign to Defend the Constitution, speaking
about the PC game Left Behind: Eternal Forces, in which players can convert or
kill non-believers.
The game is based on the Left Behind
series of novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, which takes place in the
apocalyptic post-Rapture world, in which Jesus has raised true believers in him
to heaven while non-believers were left behind to face the Antichrist. Over 60
million copies of the books, which are ostensibly based on the Book of
Revelations, have sold since 1996.
Those who play Left Behind: Eternal Forces may choose to join the Antichrist’s
minions and play for his team, which includes fictional rock stars individuals
with Arab and Muslim-sounding names.
Jeffrey Frichner, president of Left Behind Games, blithely dismissed
accusations of racism and religious intolerance with the statement that,
"Muslims are not believers in Jesus Christ." The ramifications of
being a non-believer in Frichner’s scheme, then, is that they ought to be
slaughtered if they cannot be converted.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, December 26, 2006 )
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