D&D General The Satanic Panic never really died?

[ad_hoc]

I'm glad the 5e books mock the religious outrage with their silly disclaimers.

It's important to stand up to the bullies.

There is no need to be 'understanding' or 'sympathetic' to them.

The damage they have caused and continue to cause to marginalized peoples is not acceptable.

 

[generic]

I figure he meant what he said. The Satanic Panic hasn't died out completely -- which seems on its face to be pretty freaking non-controversial since literally no alternative theory set dies out regardless of evidence. For evidence of my thesis, I point at the Flat Earth Society.

The idea is not that we must never be sensitive to the religious ideals of others, it is that the incontrovertible evidence which shows that D&D is not a tool of Satan is distinct from other religious arguments.

I agree with you here.

 

[generic]

I'm glad the 5e books mock the religious outrage with their silly disclaimers.

It's important to stand up to the bullies.

There is no need to be 'understanding' or 'sympathetic' to them.

The damage they have caused and continue to cause to marginalized peoples is not acceptable.

Thus is your opinion, which you have the right to hold. I think the central idea here is not that we must not be sensitive, it is that we must not ignore fact to engage the ideas of others.

WotC is a company, and does not deal in social justice or engagement. Their only goal is to earn enough to perpetuate D&D, and to improve their products, so that they may forever become more fun to use.

 

[Umbran]

Sorry, but this is utter blather. Most religious assertions are non-falsifiable;

Right. My view having lots of space for religious beliefs is utter blather.

In this particular case, how do you demonstrate that Satan has not influenced the authors?

Why would I have to? The image in the OP gives a quote about actual practice of the occult. There is no actual practice of the occult in the game, and that's demonstrable.

There's no statement in that image about "influence on the authors". So, that's not in this particular case - this is you introducing a new case.

Dig a little deeper into your predicates, here, and you will find your prejudice is alive and well.

Given how you seem to have completely missed what the point about non-falsifiability really means, I am not convinced that I'm the one who is reacting with prejudice.

 

[Quickleaf]

It's sad, we home school and I had a fellow home school Dad nearly causing a 12 year old girl who had fallen in love with Harry Potter and reading to cry. I stepped in and pointed out Christianity isn't designed to make children cry.

Good for you! Thank you for sharing. It breaks my heart to hear this still happening in some places. I'm glad the child had an advocate like you at her side.

Back in the late 80's/early 90's, when I was about 10 years old, I was approached (cornered) by a relative at a family reunion who spoke very harshly of my D&D hobby, calling it the devil's game and a gateway into occult magic. He certainly left me crying. My mother even waffled about it at a few points, hovering over me, and warning not to delve too deeply into occult practices.

The only "magic" I found in D&D was the magic of helping a painfully shy boy escape a challenging family life, come out of his shell, learn presentation and problem-solving skills, sharpen his maths, and provide a creative and artistic outlet. If that's D&D's "magic", well, I'm very glad to have found it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Tolkien and C. W. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) were Christians who went church every Sunday.

D&D is fantasy where natural laws are different and even non-sentient creatures can cast spell-life effects. It is not worse than videogames like Warcraft or Diablo III, or comics as "Preacher" or teleserie "Supernatural", "Buffy vampire slayer" or "Charmed". Thor is a superhero by Marvel Comics, and Hercules a Disney hero but I am not going to become neopagan.

However a practicant Christian shouldn't feel too comfortable with the mythology of World of Darkness by White Wolf, worse with "Kult: lost divinity".

The point of view by a Christian is in the reality only there are two sources or origins for supernatural phenomena, Heaven or Hell, without middle term. I know it sounds very radical, but sometimes the middle term is a false fallacy and any things can't always be in the gray zone.

In Spain we were for a time in something like this, in the 90's, where RPGs were almost unknown, before Warcraft of the movies of Lord of the Rings. A man was killed by a fool, and the killed had created something like a storytelling game. It was known like "el crimen del rol" (the role-playing game). This caused a bad image to the "friki" (geek-fanboys) community.

A Christian can read a book about occultism as a child about classic mythology (I am thinking to buy "Atlas of Myths" for my 8y niece in the next Christmas), but he can't believe in the magic as a real cosmic force can be used by mortals without risks.

D&D doesn't promote the occultism but causes the opposite effect: the occultism from real life, without XFs, becomes boring for geeks and fanboys.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I've been waving a soft-shell crab around my head while my left foot sits in a bucket of salt water, screaming Blibdoolpoolp. But so far nothing.

That's because you're supposed to be shouting Blibpooldoolp! Our God does not grace heretics!

 

[Celebrim]

Why would I have to? The image in the OP gives a quote about actual practice of the occult. There is no actual practice of the occult in the game, and that's demonstrable.

I had a colleague at work that decided in middle age to wear the hijab. Do you think that I responded to this by suggesting that there was no actual requirement in Islam to do so?

Are you fond of challenging Orthodox Jews for refusing to eat a cheeseburger? If an Orthodox Jew called out a daughter for say, eating a cheeseburger or posing with a photo of a dead pig - not even touching that pig - but just being in the photo with it, would you have responded, "So I guess Kosher never really died? I guess it didn't for some!"

 

[Bardic Dave]

Except that's not what I said, is it?

Indeed, it definitely isn’t what you said.

 

[generic]

I had a colleague at work that decided in middle age to wear the hijab. Do you think that I responded to this by suggesting that there was no actual requirement in Islam to do so?

Are you fond of challenging Orthodox Jews for refusing to eat a cheeseburger? If an Orthodox Jew called out a daughter for say, eating a cheeseburger or posing with a photo of a dead pig - not even touching that pig - but just being in the photo with it, would you have responded, "So I guess Kosher never really died? I guess it didn't for some!"

And I'm sure this is exactly the same...

The problem here is that there is no Biblical passage saying that you "shan't play D&D".

What a load of illogical tripe.