(Trying Not To Start A Rant) The Other Side of the Christian/DnD Thing

[Hardhead]

It's weird, I've very rarely gamed with Christians, but I've seen prejudice from all sides. In my gaming group, we have one neopagan, one former neopagan, (now agnostic) one former Christian (now agnositc), one atheist (me), one lapsed Catholic, and one borderline Christian (for what it's worth, he considers himself Christian, but holds views contrary to most, like "Jesus, was the son of God, but not the incarnation of God").

Of course, everyone in the group is pretty open-minded. But I've met the Jack Chick type Christians before, too. But on the other hand, I've met neopagans that were strongly biased against Christianity or generally any organized religion. I guess, being an atheist, I'm a bit of an impartial observer, and I have to say I've never seen a religious group that didn't have its own holders of prejudice.

Except Buddhism, but then, I haven't met enough Buddhists to be sure yet.

 

[~Johnny~]

I'll just add one more to the Christian gamer pile. I'm a churchgoer (though not as regularly since I moved to New York) and a former Sunday School teacher.

There's nothing in the Bible that tells you not to play pretend. If there were, I'd be pretty dubious about the Bible.

 

[Desdichado]

today i get more flak from gamers for being Christian than i ever did back in the 80's for playing D&D.

Ditto. Although mostly online, anymore. My current gaming group I met at church.

 

[Kugar]

For me at least, things are different. Maybe I have changed or maybe the world has changed. When I talk about my hobbies and mention DnD I get different reaction. For me my hobby has left the 80s and all the baggage it acquired within. I definitely think as an "adult" fewer people will tell me off as when I was a child, but now even the hopeless losers* who don't get DnD think of it as "geeky" or "weird" rather than demonic or satanic. I sure some people will remember the bad old time when the spotlight was on us, but as I said - either the world or I have changed. Personally I think it has a little to do with both. Maybe it's time for us as a community to forget those old misconceptions and feuds in order to move ourselves forward.


Kugar

*said in jest

 

[CrusaderX]

I get less flak from fellow Christians for being a gamer than I do from gamers for being a Christian.

I'll echo others here in saying that this has been my experience as well.

I've received no flak whatsoever from Christians for being a gamer. But I've encountered many oh-so "open minded" gamers who have bashed my religious beliefs (yet they seem to know very little about religion and nearly always have their facts wrong anyway).

 

[treetoad]

"Maybe it's time for us as a community to forget those old misconceptions and feuds in order to move ourselves forward."

amen to that--as a Christian, I get far more flak from non-Christian's for playing d&d (they are too "cool" and "sophisticated" and "mature") than I do from fellow Christians

I think it's beautiful that people can come together in small gaming communities to socialize despite their differences; no matter how strongly you believe in something, it's always good to hear and be around others from different perspectives

 

[Gundark]

I get less flak from fellow Christians for being a gamer than I do from gamers for being a Christian.

Wormwood has a very good point. I have seen more christian bashing on these boards than I have seen D&D bashing from christians I know.

My Group are all christians (we go to the same church even) except for one of the players (I don't think he's religious). Anyhow one of my church going player's mom is very controlling (the guy is 25 and she still tries to run his life). Anyhow she went to our Bishop to complain about him playing D&D and aske our Bishop to talk to our friend. Our Bishop did so, not about the evils of D&D, he just asked if we were roleplaying good characters and good themes. When he found out that we were he was satisfied. He understood that D&D is just a game. Like Psion said Jack Chick is the exception, not the rule.

 

[Krieg]

But honestly, isn't interesting how in the 80's Dnd and heavy metal music were the twin heads of evil that targetted kids? It just kind of went away. Heavy Metal lost its appeal and DnD almost went bankrupt. But beyond that my guess is that these same people realized that there were far worse things their kids were fooling around with - drugs, guns and sexual activity.

Actually they just moved onto targeting other forms of entertainment. Video Games, TV & other forms of music (Rap most notably) have all had their turn as being too "dangerous" or "corrupting" for kids.

There really is nothing new under the sun, in the 50's it was comic books & before that it was playing cards or "close" dancing. But somehow the youth of the world manage to survive such terrible influences to go on and become well adjusted adults themselves.

These are bad things? Okay, guns suck.

No, ignorance & irresponsibility suck.

It's weird that the US is the place where it's really the most "controversial". Prolly 'cause it's the place where it's also the most popular.

We just have more "informative" talk shows than anyone else in the world. (TIC notice!)

 

[orsal]

But honestly, isn't interesting how in the 80's Dnd and heavy metal music were the twin heads of evil that targetted kids? It just kind of went away. Heavy Metal lost its appeal and DnD almost went bankrupt. But beyond that my guess is that these same people realized that there were far worse things their kids were fooling around with - drugs, guns and sexual activity.

...not to mention HARRY POTTER!

Seriously, I don't think the evangelical nutcases (whom I count as a very small minority of evangelicals, themselves a not-quite-so-small minority of Christians) have abandoned their silly crusades about fads in popular culture. Just redirected them. D&D isn't in the limelight these days as it was when it was the new phenom sweeping high schools, but if you read the jeremiads against D&D in the 80s, against Magic:the Gathering in the 90s, and against the Harry Potter books and movies today, it's deja vu all over again.

 

[Hardhead]

No, ignorance & irresponsibility suck.

Let's not delve into this issue, as I believe it falls under politics. The original poster mentioned them in the context of there being worse things than D&D for kids to play with (like guns). Hopefully, we call all agree that kids playing with guns is bad, and not get into a pro- vs anti-gun argument.