Christian Women Don't Do D&D

Sorry if this has been posted previously, but it's all this is article:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2001/006/1.37.html

An excerpt:

"When [my husband] Mike returned, he was determined to dispose of the D&D materials once and for all—a resolution I can only attribute to God. How like us to be shocked when he answers a prayer, especially one we've prayed so often! As we tore the books apart and burned the pages in the backyard, the sky didn't open with a cascade of angels. But I felt God quietly tell me, See, child, I keep my promises."

Smacks of Farenheit 451, to me. And stupidity, of course.

W.P.

Yeah, it was a bit.... moronic. But also realize, it was from 4 years ago.

The person who wrote the article admittedly had several serious problems throughout her life and it did not look like she ever got any real help; how convenient that they could blame D&D. **cough**scapegoat**cough**

Is it my imagination or does anyone else find that when they're reading these articles the person writing them sounds like they never played a game in their life. Vitality points? I've been playing since 1st Ed and I don't remember anything called Vitality points.

Speaking as a Christian, I wish to apologize on behalf of my religion for it being responsible, directly or otherwise, for such ridiculous tripe.

Interestingly, when I was in college, I was part of a college-age Christian fellowship associated with an extremely conservative Christian church. It was in that group that I was introduced to Avalon Hill wargames AND...yes...D&D. By established members of the group. In fact, my original AD&D campaign consisted of 16 full-time players, ALL of us "born again" Christians, and with a noticeable percentage of females playing.

But sadly, I can say that one of the women actually did wind up walking away from role-playing because her husband hated role-playing (yes, as you can see, I am capable of bringing my post back around to the original topic! hehe). She said she had to be subordinate to her husband's wishes because he was the God-mandated head of the family (for the record, my wife and I always thought of it as a 50-50 partnership, but that's me...such a radical. bwah!). They eventually moved to Nashville, since it apparently is the center of Christian so-called-music (apologies to any Christians on the board who actually like that stuff), and he wanted to pursue a career as a Christian musician (which to this date I don't think he's succeeded at). The only other regret I have other than losing one damn good player is that the phrase "Let me know how that works out for you" hadn't been coined yet, cuz it would've been perfect to use on that turd.

My wife is one of the best Christians I know, and she plays D&D with my group about half the time.

Just because a nutcase calls themselves "Christian" doesn't mean they really are. Just like Osama isn't a good representative of all Muslims.

One of my friends, who frequents this board, learned to play D&D from his youth minister. They played at church. Better, his mom was an ordained Methodist minister for many years, and she never had a problem with it. Heck, half the people I game with are devout Christians.

After reading that article I can't actually see where D&D was actually causing any harm or was dangerous.

StupidSmurf said:

Speaking as a Christian, I wish to apologize on behalf of my religion for it being responsible, directly or otherwise, for such ridiculous tripe.

Click to expand...

But "Christian" is not *a* religion; so you have nothing to apologize for. It applies to literally, thousands of different religions and sects. Each one can have its own take on just about everything.

Just like "Gaming" is not *one* game. I can actually understand a person not wanting their child playing Vampire. It is based, afterall, on playing a blood drinking 'abomination'. But to color the entire gaming genre based on a few games, or a few players, is like assuming all 'christians' are exactly the same.

StupidSmurf said:

They eventually moved to Nashville, since it apparently is the center of Christian so-called-music (apologies to any Christians on the board who actually like that stuff), and he wanted to pursue a career as a Christian musician (which to this date I don't think he's succeeded at).

Click to expand...

My brother's in Nashville now with a Christian band.


But, back on topic. I know, during the 80s, my folks were convinced that Pat Pulling and Jack Chick were right. As such, I played such games as BattleTech and Twilight2000, because they weren't the satanic game D&D is.

However, my folks have since changed their views, much to my relief. In fact, they're quite proud of the fact that I'm doing some free-lancing.