D&D satanic; here we go again.

[Some guy from Ohio]

The other day, my wife had a phone conversation with her sister about my being a gamer, specifically a D&D player. My sister-in-law, a devout Christian, tossed out the old “D&D is satanic” line and she is worried about my soul. I am thankful, she worries about my well-being, but you most of you know how irritating this old “satanic” label is and I intend to debate the issue over a Sunday lunch this weekend. I don’t think I can win, I have found people with this opinion a bit closed minded, but I am curious how would you make the argument.

 

[Sfounder]

Well, good luck. . . . . .

I've won these "debates" before, but faith is typically more powerful than logic.

Try a slippery slope:

1. Is she speaking from personal observation, or by the word of others?
2. Is chess satanic?
3. Is acting and drama satanic?
4. Are movies like the Lord of the Rings satanic?

etc. You could also invite her to watch a session.

 

[Shallown]

Are parables evil/satanic?

Rpg's are storyelling/games in their rawest since.

I would not try to convince her D&D is bad but draw out what makes her think that. Often it is just a lack of information that causes this belief.

Also prepare for the fact that looked at in the right way D&D is satanic depending on your interpretation of certain bible passages. Or at least Playing D&D is a sin. I of course don't think this but there are ways to logically interpret the bible to say it is a way for the devil/satan to get a grip on someone. The same arguement applies to TV, movies and music. Not as a whole but certain songs, shows, movies.

I think the most important thing is keeping and open mind yourself and knowing when to give up the fight either becuase they have reasonable reasons for their opinion or thier too close minded to accept your arguement.

Good luck

Later

 

[CrusaderX]

There are plenty of devout Christian D&D players, so it's not really a devout Christian issue.

I'd suggest finding the article that Tracy Hickman wrote about the misunderstandings of RPGs, and have your sister-in-law read it.

 

[Scribble]

I think were it me, I would try to ask her why she considers it Satanic and approach it from there. Answer her specific concerns.

3. Is acting and drama satanic?

An interesting aside, in times long passed, acting WAS considered the devils work. Pretending to be something you were not was what the devil did, and thus when acing you were likening yourself to the devil.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

My sister-in-law converted to Catholicism when she married my brother and I picked up the catechism book to see if they had any official line on this kind of thing. Whereas they did not come out and say 'RPGs' the Catholic Church's official stance seems to be that Satan does not manifest in games, music or things like that.

To this larger issue of Satanism, I am not sure that even hardline Christians even care much anymore outside of general 'yeah, its probably evil.' (I hope this thread does not fall under the 'religion' ban.)

 

[cmanos]

I have two aunts that tell me this all the time. "Are you still playing that satanic game?" I ask them why they think it is Satanic. They say it is because their minister tells them so.

Faith in a man who tells you things are evil, without basis in fact = zealotry. Zealots cannot be argued with.

<sarcasm>My advice is to get a pentagram tattooed to your forehead and mount a goates head over your fireplace....</sarcasm>

 

[Wystan]

Explain that anything can be used for either purpose, Roleplaying is a good release for steam and is usually used as the good guys vs. the bad guys. It is just like writing a book or actining in an impromptu play. There is the abilty to do evil and to glorify Satan and evil in anything, but that is not the focus of roleplaying just as it is not the focus of music or movies.

William Curtis
(Devout Christian and Roleplayer who will be going for a Ministry Degree soon, as a conservative Baptist Minister)

 

[Henry]

Well, you could remind her that at the very least, some 10 MILLION people have played Dungeons and Dragons without any mishap, mental illness, religious crises of faith, or trouble with the law. The number is likely even higher than that, but that's a conservative estimate). You can note that some 2.5 million people play role-playing games of all sorts on an at-least monthly basis, with lack of same.

You can inform her that D&D players are scientists, pastors, doctors, lawyers, educators, blue-collar and white-collar workers who enjoy D&D and other similar games like some other people enjoy NASCAR, extreme sports, or stamp collecting. The only difference is that stamp collecting hasn't been given a bad image by shoddy reporting. (EDIT: I don't miss the irony that I originally misspelled "shoddy". )


The U.S. military has D&D players in all positions and walks of life, and many CO's don't mind it because it and many similar games (wargames, but you don't need to specify the similarities) are good thought exercises for people to engage in. You could bring up the old story that in the 1980's, there was at least one D&D group on every U.S. nuclear sub! However, I only have Dave Arneson's word to go on that.

Roleplaying (the major component) is used in business management as a regular tool for crisis training and conflict resolution.

The game itself has no elements of actual satanic appeals, rituals, magick spells, or other information therein; not even a pentagram in sight! Tell her to look on the www.d20SRD.org site if she doesn't believe you.

The best thing to do in the end, is ask her what info has she heard (actual info, not hearsay) that D&D and roleplaying games in general are Satanic. Asking for actual proof will often defuse the situation, or throw it back on the source of her information - a pastor, a TV personality, or some other source of authority. If the source of authority is only making vague claims of proof, and you are sitting there with links to sites or actual books proving that the truth is far different from the claims, you go a long way to defusing any criticisms.

Finally, remember that OJ Simpson and Michael Skakel each played Golf, and were either accused or convicted murderers; by extension, Golf causes people to commit murder. (That one you might want to hold back as a last resort.)

 

[BryonD]

No dispute with any of the above comments.

But if you already have family and religion in the mix, I'd seriously encourage you to just avoid the topic. Don't bring it up yourself and if some one else does, just say you greatly appreciate their concern and respect their beliefs and opinion and then try to change the topic.

This is the kind of thing where you can be right and win the debate and still end up losing.