Crom and His Devils said:
"but only a handful of real extremists think DnD is evil. I'm sorry you live in such an unfortunate area."
Lucky me, I went, as a early teenager, to a church where not only did the youth directors tell the other kids that D&D was of the devil right in front of me...but had a fire-n-brimstone preacher do a little number about the subject too for the congregation (with me in the front row). It was a free(no)-will baptist church, for those playing along at home.
...[Note: I hold no religion, including christianity, in contempt. Just the fundie ding-dongs which appear to be a plague in every culture in the world.]
I don't mean offense by this, but this proves that you came into contact with TWO individual Christians who were anti-D&D, and a crowd of people whose only information is coming from this limited circle of individuals. The entire rest ofthe crowd up until being preached to, most likely didn't have an opinion one way or another. The damaging part is that it is the Church Elders who are usually in control of any given church, and they use limited sources of info to make their decisions. Lack of information is what is demonizing to D&D. Any church who calls it "evil" needs the proper facts before making their decision.
--------------------
Before anyone objects to the next paragraph, please note that the statements I am about to make are true, within the context of the Bible, so keep in mind I am not stating these as absolute fact that one must beleive; only that they are true with regards to the source material.
I always point out one thing to many Christians when making this argument: Saint Thomas, believe it or not, in the Christian Faith was one of the founding supporters of proving something by empirical evidence. (Remember the whole "stick your hand in my wounds" thing?) Thomas said he wouldn't beleive the resurrection until he saw it himself. In the Bible, taking things on faith is spoken of predominantly by Paul, but God was always a believer in proof. The main reason for the biblical miracles was not for deeds, but rather as proof. Jesus' miracles - water to wine, resurrection of Lazarus, Walking on water, etc. etc.? Proof. Therefore, before you make a claim as a Christian, you need proof to back it up. If you have no proof, I believe that you dishonor Jesus' example, and that of Paul, and all Apostles who miracle-worked after him as proof of their veracity and power.
--------------------------
That said, where is the proof that D&D inherently causes evil? Where is the proof that D&D destroys societal ethics and morals, rather than builds them up? This must be asked of someone who espouses the evils of D&D, and many can be tripped up when presented the facts of these things. Even their very own statistics on suicides prove them wrong, when compared to the national average; D&D LESSENS the chances of suicide compared to the national average.
For every J. Dallas Egbert, there are hundreds of stories of how D&D has forged friendships, taught object lessons, and improved lives. Like any object, it must be taken in moderation; D&D, like golf, basketball, and food, can also destroy lives if that life makes unwise choices about moderation. But if Game-playing is not "unhealthy" then D&D is no less healthy than playing any other type of game, or paricipating in acting.
To many fundamentalist Christians (which is different from Conservative Christians), there is no way to reconcile D&D with living a healthy life, the same way they would not be able to reconcile dancing, or listening to secular music, or wearing any garment that uncovers a woman's head. But that is a different discussion, and one that D&D is a minor to moot point in. Even Christians disagree strongly on this point.
