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Master Chief Versus God: Let the Battle Begin
FRIDAY OCTOBER 12 2007 12:00 PM
Submitted by Cassiel. Edited By erin_broadley.
TAGS: Halo 3, religion, video games, church, recruitment
Let me begin by saying that I don't play the Halo games--I think I'm one of about 6 people on the planet that don't. I just don't dig 'em; first-person shooters aren't my thing (except GoldenEye). But I realize that a lot of people play and enjoy the games, especially the recently released Halo 3. They're insanely popular. So much so that churches are using them as recruitment and teaching tools.
Strange bedfellows, huh? A violent video game and religion. But it's true. The article discusses the use of the video game by youth ministers to reach out to young men and boys, and to get them to come to church and read/study/believe in The Good Word.
Witness the basement on a recent Sunday at the Colorado Community Church in the Englewood area of Denver, where Tim Foster, 12, and Chris Graham, 14, sat in front of three TVs, locked in violent virtual combat as they navigated on-screen characters through lethal gun bursts. Tim explained the game’s allure: “It’s just fun blowing people up.”
Once they come for the games, Gregg Barbour, the youth minister of the church said, they will stay for his Christian message. “We want to make it hard for teenagers to go to hell,” Mr. Barbour wrote in a letter to parents at the church.
Well said Tim, well said. And as for Mr. Barbour, I don't know if you keep up with the kids these days, but it seems they're doing everything in their power to go to Hell, as it were. Not like when I was a kid.
But that's the thing: churches want to appear cool and hip and "with it" in order to grab the youth market (any good marketing exec will tell you that), because the children are our future, I suppose. I really don't understand why they want to go after the kids. Don't they already have enough people as it is? Besides, all the kids want is to get laid ASAP, and as often as possible. And last time I checked, that's against nearly every religious doctrine on the planet (I'm unsure about Discordianism--can someone check that?).
On the other hand, they're worried that by sponsoring Halo nights at their churches, they are approving and encouraging violence, and indoctrinating kids with those warped values. Umm, yeah. In that little book called the Bible (and other religious texts, I assume), there's plenty of violence that can outshine Halo: tribes killing tribes, beheadings, sacrifices, et cetera. And ministers encourage belief in these scriptures! But I can understand their worries. It is a tricky balancing act. Do we want more followers or do we want to endorse something that's against our values?
“If you want to connect with young teenage boys and drag them into church, free alcohol and pornographic movies would do it,” said James Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a nonprofit group that assesses denominational policies. “My own take is you can do better than that.”
Someone should start a church based on alcohol and porno, IMHO. But I digress. There is a big market in today's youth for these churches, and they want to make the most of it. But they're fighting against a lot of other distractions: other video games, girls, peer pressure, MTV, drugs & alcohol, girls, school, girls, their parents' deteriorating marriage, and girls. Looking at it from that point of view, using Halo 3 as bait to enter into God's House is a clever idea.
David Drexler, youth director at the 200-member nondenominational Country Bible Church in Ashby, Minn., said using Halo to recruit was “the most effective thing we’ve done.”
In rural Minnesota, Mr. Drexler said, the church needs something powerful to compete against the lure of less healthy behaviors. “We have to find something that these kids are interested in doing that doesn’t involve drugs or alcohol or premarital sex.” His congregation plans to double to eight its number of TVs, which would allow 32 players to compete at one time.
But the taste isn't at sweet to some people, kinda like artichokes and peanut butter. Many parents and ministers are still debating whether they like it or not.
Daniel R. Heimbach, a professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, believes that churches should reject Halo, in part because it associates thrill and arousal with killing.
“To justify whatever killing is involved by saying that it’s just pixels involved is an illusion,” he said.
Focus on the Family, a large evangelical organization, said it was trying to balance the game’s violent nature with its popularity and the fact that churches are using it anyway. “Internally, we’re still trying to figure out what is our official view on it,” said Lisa Anderson, a spokeswoman for the group.
But in today's Enlightened times, we have to wow the kids with all we've got to get them to listen. Just go and watch Transformers. Or listen to Tom Cruise yap about Scientology.
Ken Kenerly, 43, is a pastor who recently started a church in Atlanta and previously started the Family Church in Albuquerque, N.M., where quarterly Halo nights were such a big social event that he had to rent additional big-screen TVs.
Ken Kenerly said he believed that the game could be useful in connecting to young people he once might have reached in more traditional ways, like playing sports. “There aren’t as many kids outdoors as indoors,” he said. “With gamers, how else can you get into their lives?”
John Robison, the current associate pastor at the 300-member Albuquerque church, said parents approached him and were concerned about the Halo games’ M rating. “We explain we’re using it as a tool to be relatable and relevant,” he said, “and most people get over it pretty quick.”
I guess in the end, you've got to do everything you can to stay afloat, especially in what can be perceived as dark and troubling times. And these churches are doing exactly that, just as they have done many times before, with various methods. I am not condemning nor am I condoning their methods and their messages. I'm just saying that the internal debates on their choices is really interesting. They want to stick to their guns, which is a noble effort, and keep their voices loud and able to be heard. But in today's even-louder, fast-paced, "secular" society, some sacrifices have to be made...a sort-of "deal with the Devil," if you will. We'll see.
Personally, I would've used one of the myriad Mario games. Now there's a classic story of good versus evil. Fuck Bowser.
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