Atheist Creates Game for Fun and Prophets
Atheist Creates Game for Fun and Prophets
June 3, 2008
A University of Virginia graduate student has created a game to "give voice to the atheist community" according to a sketchy report by Roanoke's WSLS-10.
The game designer, who declined to give his name over fears for his safety, told the TV news:
Atheists have never really had anything to speak for them like this. It’s the general atheist premise that the world might be a better place without some of those religions... It’s the idea of being able to go back in time and sort of nipping the problem in the bud.
According to the report:
The object of the game is to stop the spread of Christianity and Islam by murdering Abraham and the authors of the Bible, before beheading Muhammad.
GP: We know nothing of this unnamed - and apparently amateur - game beyond the WSLS-10 reports. However, given that Islamic tradition disapproves of depictions of Muhammad, it can be expected to cause a much wider controversy should it be released.
Beyond that, it's unclear how depicting the killing of Abraham and Muhammad would "give atheists a voice."
Comments
NB4 Shitstorm
That wa a terrible pun.
Shitstorm is right. I agree that atheists need more representation within this country, but killing virtual representations of the prophets of major religions? That really doesn't do anything to help any of us out. This is going to go over like a lead balloon, adding to many conservatives' beliefs that all atheists want to do is kill them all. I'm really hoping this doesn't get widespread coverage by the larger news networks.
" I'm really hoping this doesn't get widespread coverage by the larger news networks. " You and me both. The atheist community needs to express itself with intelligent debate and discussions. "Statements" like this title are just going to give more ammunition to the right-wing nuts.
That intelligent debate ahould be about Fundamentalism. Wielded by any hand, be that Christian, Muslim, Jewish, atheist, scientist, or any political force for that matter, fundamentalism is dangerous. If that kind of fundamentalesque message is a voice for atheists, I'll speak for myself.
I agree with that. In my mind when it is said in that photo accompanying this topic 'God does not believe in Aethiests' so they do not exist, technically by that account they do. For something not to an exist there must be the idea. For something not to exist we must have no idea what so ever about it (not the idea of we do not know how to do it).
Ah crap this is the lsat thing Athiests and gamers need right now athiests for the obvious reason and gamers because you the pycho-conservative fundies are gonna be on thier news networks(FOX) screaming how the Athiest-Gamer-Satanists want to kill the "enlightened"
and others claiming the all/most of gamers are athiest and that athiests are devil worshippors
Hilter!and the uh....Legion of doom! are plotting to assassinate Jesus,using the lake as a base.
Seriously this whole thing just seems like a really cheesy Family Guy episode. Poor, poor, athiest; finally joining the club of being represented by a jack-ass
Christians=Jack Thompson/GWB
Mormons=That crazy sect from Texas
Muslims=Don't get me started
*sigh*
----Reno to Thompson "I'm only interested in virile men. That’s why I'm not attracted to you." This kids, is what we call a grammatical smack down
so you are going to call the developer who is making a serious statement a "jack-ass" but not the creators of south park??!! you, my friend are the "poor, poor" person
As a practicing Catholic I personally have nothing atheists - some of my friends are, and they're pretty good folks. When they start acting like obnoxious, flame-war inducing, know-it-all twats, however (much like some religious fundies I know), that's when I think they've stepping out of bounds. Seriously, the game's concept sounds...tasteless. Was the author trying to express some sort of meaningful message, or just bored?
I completely agree. In what way does this aid the atheist argument? I believe in God 100% (I'm a practising Jehovah's Witness) and have had many interesting, reasoned debates with my atheist friends over such things as Evolution vs. Creation and the relevancy of the Bible in modern life. But what is this person doing that is so different from religious fundamentalists who scream about killing atheists? Atheism is about not believing in god, not a violent suppression of religion. This person is clearly only looking to stir up trouble, and I am infuriated by his attitude. I imagine he would instantly cry foul play if someone made a game in which you hunt down and torture Richard Dawkins.
N.B. I'm not looking to start a religious debate here. I think people are perfectly entitled to not believe in God. I don't agree, but then, that's the outcome of human individuality. ;)
hmm this person who says he is a voice to atheists is probably just as bad as the people who he hates. I have a hard time with organised religion but I do know that every bad point usualy has a good one. However it looks like this guy just wants to scream louder to get more attention. He says that atheists need a voice but I dont think its his.
well i do think its his - atheists havfe one nothing to "kick people in the ass" as this game has done - and with all this debate i see it is working
what is the point on the game?? to remind people that abraham and muhammad were just flash and blood and without them you would not see a church on every corner
"As a practicing Catholic I personally have nothing against atheists"
I think that going back in time and destroying all the "founders" of religion would just result in different people spawning different religions...
But also on the topic of Islamic tradition disapproving of depictions of Muhammed, South Park have taken the piss out of this topic TWICE now and have had no real threats from the Islamic Community.
In Season 5 the episode titled "Super Best Friends" show Muhammed as a super hero (along with Jesus and Budda and a few others) in order to stop David Blane's cult.
In Season 10 the 2 part episode titled "Cartoon Wars" also makes fun of Islams offence of showing an image of Muhammed (although Muhammed is only shown as a censored black square in this episode).
Since niether of these instances showed Muhammed or the Islamic religion in a bad light, neither of them caused any real fuss. I think that in the story you linked (at the BBC site) the main issue was the Muhammed was being depicted as a terrorist with a bomb for a turban...
Of course, being able to go back in time and "behead Muhammed" is not going to endear the creator of this game to the Islamic community at all... I just wanted to point out that less extreme cases where Muhammed has been depicted did not seem to cause much fuss.
-- mostly harmless
Wow, quite possibly the stupidest thing ever. NB4 Shitstorm indeed. I'm not aethiest, I'm christian. But this reeks of some guy just wanting to make waves, not give aethiests a voice. Lots of other ways to do a game against the idea of creation other than just killing the people who created the stories.
I'm athiest and I consider this to be entirely retarded. I don't quite follow this dudes thinking, the world would be a better place without religion, okay fair enough, so let's go kill some people. Wha? Isn't killing people the problem?
I'm non-religious agnostic and it doesn't sound all that interesting to me either.
Now, if you put this in a rational context, say in a computer RPG version of TimeMaster, where showing failures to stop the killings of religious icons and their subsequent potential reprocussions, now THAT might be intersting. Especially if you get together some top notch "what-if experts".
But, to be honest, this game sounds more like an Atheist version of Ethnic Cleansing. Ok, maybe a bit strong, but still...
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Nightwng2000 has also updated his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/nightwing2000 Nightwng2000 is now admin to the group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" on MySpace as http://groups.myspace.com/pfenl
Actually, to me as a Pagan, it puts me in mind of someone having the idea of simulating the Burning Times. Needless to say, THATS A BAD THING!!
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Pretty much in agreement with you there. Hm, I wonder what an Agnostic game would be like? By comparison, it would probably be pretty boring; just watch the major religions develop and go about your business.
Hmmm actually, now that I think of it,Agnostic might actually be a better description for me, but either way, I just say I'm a solitary practioner.
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
have you forgottten that our taxes are sending our troops in to kill many, many people??!!
and everybody is up an arms over killing a few individuals to save the millions of victims of religion over the years??
idiots.
Tis zippy again.
Yer 5 minetes of fame is over.
I'm an atheist, and I'm anti-religious to boot. A craptacular game is not going to "give atheists a voice." If anything, this will just show the fanatics how evil we atheists are (insert the EAC's logo here), and how badly we need to be stopped or put in our place.
I'm all for traveling backwards in time and fixing a problem before it becomes a problem, but it needs to be a well-told story that invokes thought and becomes emotionally entrenching, and show the consequences of accomplishing the task at hand. I highly doubt that this game will have a written story such as this. Even if it does, the plot has already been spoiled, so those who need "converting" wouldn't go near this game. Preaching to the choir accomplishes little, and general douche-baggery accomplishes much less.
<agree>What he said.</agree>
As a huge atheist, I can say the very idea of this game is TRIPE. One of the main reasons people turn away from religion is because of the violence & hate that they promote.
as the article states: this game only mirrors the violence they see (and its VIRTUAL) do you really think they would have added beheading to the game if that wasn't already an established element in islamic culture??!!
mohammed ACTUALLY BEHEADED PEOPLE(!)
Tis zippy again
For the record I believe in "God" and thigns beyond human comprehension, its religion(not faith or spriaulity) and the way humans interrupt things that I have become disenfranchised with.
God is beyond gendar and petty huamisims.
I agree that this will cause a shitstorm(A major one at that), cause we all know how batshit insane muslims get when something or someone disses Islam
.
I don't think of myself as an Atheist, because I believe in there being life after death and the concept of a soul. I just don't follow any religions cause there all too full of it for me to care.
This is SO going to promote precisely the reaction it was intended to...This isn't for atheism, it's for attention.
Atheists couldn't give a darn about Abraham or Mohammed, the cause of the problem is not the mouthpiece, it's the belief that we don't have to judge ourselves because God is doing it, and that justifies anything, it's THAT which scares me about Religion, not the figureheads.
i you don't think atheists care about abraham or mohammed you are retarded.
Atheists have a voice, it's called the ACLU.
*ducks*
~~All Knowledge is Worth Having~~
reminds me of that simpsons episode where they go to a prison rodeo and some guy gets the shit beat out of him by a bull.
announcer: "don't worry folks, he was arrested for erecting a nativity scene on town property"
marge: "there's so much evil in this world"
*sigh*
Well, I guess Christians et al have had the fun of having their extremist loonies going to town, why not the Atheists turn?
I usually label myself as Agnostic, because I fall into the "I don't care either way" group. I am sick of having to explain myself to fundies of any faith though.
Then again, my bet is that this guy is just out for noteriety, ie, he's doing it for the 'lulz'... Murdering Abraham? Beheading Mohammed? How is that supposed to stop religion? No, he's doing this either out of a misguided idea of how to tone down the problems with organized religion, or he's doing it to get a rise out of people.
I don't think even Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens, as much as they come off as pompous, opinionated jerks who "represent" the Atheist movement, wouldn't advocate murdering religious figures.
-- If your wiimote goes snicker-snack, check your wrist-strap...
Behold! Proof that being a dipshit has no set belief.
Dipshit?? why don't you get off your ass and do something too ...
Should I be offended?Probably not,cause the game will undoubtedly suck ass.
There's a certain level of hypocricy in this game concept. "Atheists don't have a voice, so let's silence the religious voice!" I think everyone should be entitled to their beliefs as long as no one is hurt by them. But this guy is suggesting that the belief systems of those he disagree with should be destroyed.
That in no way helps the atheists gain more of a voice. There are actually a lot of atheists today. The only reason they aren't heard from much, is because they aren't organized under spiritual belief system that connects them. I suppose they could start an atheist "club," though they'd have to becareful of their "faith" in the lack of a higher power doesn't become a new religion. :)
In my personal experiences, real life and online, mentioning religion anywhere near an athiest invites piles of abuse from them. Rarely, if ever, have I found an athiest who would agree that you are entitled to your beliefs. They don't need a voice. They need to shut up. Just like all those fundies who hijack almost every religion out there.
There are many moderate atheists, as there are many moderate religious people. We tend to notice the extremes because they make the most noise.
I wonder if there's any extremist agnostics, or whether it's a straight line between extreme atheism and fundameltalism (or maybe a circle - at the extremes do they become indistinguishable, as in politics?).
Not sure about Agnostics, but I've known a couple extremist Pagans, I kindly pointed out to them (admitedly in one case with a retalitory right hook) that their viewpoint was a direct contradiction of "An if it harm none do as thy will" .
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
"Militant Agnostic: I don't know and you don't either"
The reason you never hear about an Atheist who says your entitled to your beliefs is the same reason many atheist never hear a religious person say their entitled to their beliefs... it's because the moderate atheists and moderate religious never feel a need to say anything.
When you mention your beliefs, most moderates find little point in mentioning "i don't believe what you say but you are entitled to believe it"; they are too neutral to say something like that... it's kind of a pointless statement since it doesn't add anything to the conversation. So they really just keep out of your business... The only ones who feel they must respond to your statement are those with a more extremist point of view.
Really the only time the moderate's speak up is when someone starts preaching a very extremeist point of view, since they feel they must point out that they are only part of the problem and are solving nothing with their preachings
"There are actually a lot of atheists today. The only reason they aren't heard from much, is because they aren't organized under spiritual belief system that connects them. I suppose they could start an atheist "club," though they'd have to becareful of their "faith" in the lack of a higher power doesn't become a new religion. :)"
Well there is some stuff like the http://firstchurchofatheism.com/
Granted, from what i can tell is that the main reason the it was founded was to give Atheists a secular alternative to weddings, funerals and other such things... Though i think it's kind of stupid since, correct me if i'm wrong, NONE of those things make religious clergy a MUST have. Weddings and such can been done by a judge in a courthouse... if the atheists want to have someone say some kind words and so forth about the marriage and such, there is nothing stopping them from just holding their own private ceremony before/after the judge makes it official; a private ceremony where they can do whatever they like... overall, an offical "Atheist preist" would not be needed since any joe-shmoe can do the job after the judge is done... and i think the same can be done with funerals... as long as the funeral home and cemetery you are using do not belong to a church, then you request that you do not want a priest and just have friends and family speak. Really, i don't think a priest is needed for ANY of those things... Frankly, i kinda wonder why they chose to call themselves a "church" and not find an alternative word; seeing as "church" generally implies a religion for most people which they say atheism is not
But really, there would be so much irony in Atheism becoming so organized that it becomes like a religion... quite frankly, i think the biggest irony would be that Atheism would just end up falling into the same exact trappings as all other religion; the followers would start to break down into seperate groups for better and for WORSE... you have the larger, but much more quiet majority who just wants to follow atheism for what it is and wish no ill will on others... an then you have the more extreme members who spend most of their time preaching about he evils of all the religions and make terrible, terrible generalizations about the religious... and then you have the nutcase extremists who take that a step further and wish for genocide agianst the religious preaching that the world would be a better place without them (granted there would be shades of gray between the 3)... Unfortunately, the first and largest group gets ignored by many because the other groups are a lot louder and more noticable... In the end, the status of atheism in the world would be the same as any religion
It's all well and good when people of a similar beliefs gather together... but things go to shit when the haters amognst them also start together and get organized.
It's really rather true, i mean we can already see from this game for example, that some atheist end up becoming exactly which they hate... the most pathetic thing is that they themselves do not realize it.
And now for something fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPz_DA0QDxc
As an atheist, I have to say that this nutjob gives the rest of us a bad name. He's much like the guy who's trying to get "In God We Trust" removed from money. These sorts are to atheism what Hagee, Phelps and their ilk are to Christianity.
It just goes to show that you can get irrational hatred in any religious or philosophical position, even one that explicitly espouses Reason.
nutjob?? i don't think so ... there is a difference between hatred and simple wanting something irrational gone
Yet "wanting something irrational gone" and beheading people are exactly the same?
Right.
I'm gonna go with nutjob on this one.
nutjob?? no. don't you understand he put that in the game because thats whats THEY DO IN REAL LIFE!!!! (it is so obvious i can't believe i even had to explain that) obviously the idiots on here have taken everything at face-value where the smarter people have seen the irony
*taste of their own medicine*
that guy has no manners or respect for others faiths.
(murdering Abraham and the authors of the Bible, before beheading Muhammad)
how low can this get?and really i have to stop at the last one.beheading the last Prophet?
i have no problems with Atheists or pagan or any kind of faith. if he wants to prove a point he should do it with class. not in this sick manner.
This guy is pretty much like the guy in the article below this, good job McCloud, make Atheist look bad with your badly done video game.
badly done game? wtf!!!! you haven't even seen it yet - for a bunch of 'open minded' people you really sound as narrow as the mindset the game is trying to rid of lol
This guy doesn't care about giving atheism a representation, he just wants to make waves and piss people off.
@Dark Sovereign
Its true that mentioning religion near most atheist welcomes a torrent of mindless abuse, much like that you can get from the simpletons who think that Barack is going to change a damn thing or pull us out of Iraq. And that's a damn shame, because there are plenty of atheists who are intelligent people, and a lot of them don't act like this guy. My best friend is an atheist, and he even stepped inside the church for my wedding (and didn't melt, much to my surprise). He's an intelligent guy, and tolerant too, which is why I don't have a problem with him.
To be fair, many other religions have people who spout their religious view and force it on others, Islam being the leader in it in the world, Baptists being the leader of it in America. What people need to do is just not force their religion on others, and not go door to door (i'm lookin at the Jehovah's Witnesses, the cults, etc). Also, we need to eradicate Scientology.
Someone had to say it.
Also, we need to eradicate Scientology.
Watch out, Tom Cruise is going to sue you...in England.
Too late, I was there last week, but he missed out on the chance (lulz).
Let me put it like this: Germany, the most POLITICALLY CORRECT COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, banned Scientology. Germany hasn't banned anything excepte hate speech since 1945, and is VERY VERY VERY afraid of banning religions or anything like them out of fear of people remembering the Holocaust. So, to ban Scientology, it would've had to be doing something terrible, like subverting the German government (which it was trying to do). Scientology is the devil, and its a cult, and it'll end up like Waco except with more money and crazier people.
Scientology is not "banned" in Germany, it just isn't recognised as a religion.
There are, however, quite a few video games, movies, books, and other media banned in Germany. And not just ones containing hate speech.
What always shocked me about such exchanges is that whenever I saw someone mention to a Christian that they were an athiest they would usually get a fierce blinking-at, but the athiest would fire off bile if put in the opposite situation.
And people are trying to take down Scientology, but they've claimed the good old "conspiracy" defense.
The problem scientology has is that so many of its members are brainwashed doing stupid shit in plain view, wearing military uniforms, cruising around on their private asbestos ridden navy, that the world can see how crazy they are. Whats even worse is that unlike most religions, scientology DEMANDS that everyone press their cultish bullshit on everyone else. That's where I think the problem comes in; having your opinion is fine, but unless you can present it in a way that doesn't include you attempting to talk down to me, I don't want to hear it. Most of the atheists who have tried to talk down to me about being Catholic have been nowhere near my intelligence, and one of them actually became an atheist because he didn't want to wake up on sunday at 10 to go to church, so he rebelled against mommy and daddy (that was the reason he gave, mind you).
With the greatest respect, I take issue with your linking of the Witnesses to cults. We preach door-to-door because that is what the Bible instructs people to do, so technically all Christians should do so rather than just one small denomination. All our instruction and training is geared towards politeness and specifically avoiding conflict on the doors. I don't think we ever "force their [our] religion on others" because if people don't want to know, they just say so and we leave. And we certainly don't ask people to become Witnesses; if you were to judge carefully, we teach about the Bible first and foremost. When people who have been studying know enough, then we invite them to become Witnesses because it is the only way, really, to study further. Surely you can see the logic of that?
I'm sorry if you've had bad experiences with the Witnesses in the past, but primarily we are doing what Jesus asked ALL his followers to do. But I do take issue with any insinuation that we force our religion on others, because we don't.
If you recall, Jesus preached to those who came to listen, he didn't go to people's homes without their consent and harass them every saturday.
Personally I have nothing against the Witness's but I think what he means is that some groups forget that they were instructed to cast the teachings "as wheat upon the earth" and there to take root as it would. Something most evangelical denominations have forgotten.
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Wow how self-rightous of you ... ("someone had to say it")
Sorry but i think there is more than just "getting attention" at work here ... I do not believe they were "trying to be controversial" - some subject matter just is.
Wait until CAIR gets ahold of this story, that right there will cause a shitstorm. I think the guy was smart not wanting his name given, seeing has how we all know he would have been marked for death just for the Muhammad thing alone. This in no way is going to help athiests at all, it is going to have the opposite reaction to where there will be more generalizing and the nut jobs will try and make it sound this is what all Atheists believe.
I think the concept of the game could be pretty cool if handled in a way similar to Red Alert. For those unfamiliar with RA the concept is that Einstein invents a time machine, goes back in time and kills Adolf Hitler only to find that by removing him history played out differently and now there's loads of wars all over the place with crazy factions, telepathic russians and tesla coils that can kill a man with a satisfying ZAP!
Not that I think this game will do that. But I'll reserve judgement until I know more about it (isn't that a virtue of somesort?) *sly wink*
I'm far from convinced the guy who wrote this is, in fact, an atheist. It's too deliberately designed to be offensive and to give atheists a bad name, too 'spaghetti monster' to have been a serious attempt, looks more like either satire or defamation to me.
So, what? Whenever a bigot shows up in the ranks of atheism it's a plant? Can Christians claim this defense?
They do, frequently.
In truth, most atheists are quite happy to let other people go on believing whatever they like, as long as (a) they don't try to tell other people to live by rules given to them by a big beard in the sky, and (b) they don't threaten to kill you if you don't believe in a big beard in the sky.
You get extremist atheists, just as you get extremeist religious nuts, but they rarely concentrate on past figures, they are usually about getting attention for more modern events, however, directly and deliberately attacking the two figures most likely to cause offence to either religious side sounds a little to blatant to have been done by a 'real' atheist, more likely someone who couldn't care less, but loves pissing people off.
Personally, I look at this as being like 'V-Tech Massacre', it was done by an offensive person for the sake of causing offence, I don't think their religios stance had as much to do with the game as the need to jump up and down and shout 'look at me!'.
Whenever I run into these extremist atheists, not only do they concentrate on past events, but on past events almost EXCLUSIVELY. The usual subjects of the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, and the Salem Witch trials are brought up. They tell me that not only should I not believe in the big beard in the sky, but that I am an idiot for believing in the big beard in the sky, and that the world would be better off without me. So while you may see this person as "not a real athiest" this has fallen in line with most of my experiences with them. I know that this is not representative of all atheists, but neither is Governor Perry representative of all Christians, and too many times have they been grouped together.
Then I'd suggest the people you ran into were either immature idiots or on the Internet, wometimes it is hard to tell the difference between the two.
An atheist, a proper one that is, doesn't have an opinion as such on religious people, there's no need to have one as long as they are left alone. My grandmother is a devout church goer, 92 years old and almiost never missed a Sunday, though nowadays the priest comes and visits.
The priest knows full well that I do not hold to his beliefs in entirety, I do not accept the existence of a higher being, but I choose to live by morals that I myself define. Any one who screams about not beliving in God for no reason other than to get attention isn't an Atheist in my opinion, they kind of remind me of stories of Politicos who screamed their hatred of Homosexuals only to be revealed as a closet one themselves.
For me, the whole danger of religion is the kind of offence that can be raised by games such as this, I always despair when someone starts calling for the death of 'those who believe otherwise', especially when it's done in the name of frustration at religions which have been known to actively encourage the death of 'those who believe otherwise'. The whole game is a masive oxymoron.
Then we are mostly in agreement.
Makes me wonder, then what an Extremist/Militant Agnostic would be like. What would his motto be? "I don't know and you don't either!"
Baloney. When the laws are completely secular (no blue laws), then we can talk.
You and I both know that what you are saying is complete Crap. Just because there is no Referance to God in "everything from GTA to Guitar Hero" doesn't mean its Athiest. The only games, and I can't think of a single one off the top of my head, that you can consider Athiest are games that have explicit referances to the belief that there is no god. As an Athiest, I want to keep my life clear of any reference to God in any way shape or form. Keep it out of my schools, my government, my public areas. I don't want to see it. Essentially, keep your religion to yourself. If you can do that, that I have no problem with any organized religion, however you and I both know thats not how it is. I get bombarded with religious this, spiritual that everywhere I go, and thats what bothers me. Its Even in Politics! Every canditate has to have strong Christian Spiritual Values to even think about running for office. Its rediculous. So quit your complaing about video games, because, to be honest, you have the rest of the freakin world.
First of all, they're not 'yours'. They're 'ours', so long as we both pay our taxes. (I realise I'm writing from England whereas I imagine you're American but the principle is the same.)
Secondly, it's much more PC and fashionable to shout about how God doesn't exist and try to attack organised religion than it is to do the opposite. I'm inclined to believe this is caused by the fact that controversy gets better airtime but that's just my theory. I'd say that, overall, the Western world has a society more based towards secularisation than any alternative. After all, there's a difference between the Church having influence on politics (which it does) than the beliefs behind the Church (the Bible) having any say on the laws made in the country (which it doesn't, otherwise premarital sex would be outlawed). While the point about secular video games was a silly one, your reply was just as militant.
"As an Athiest, I want to keep my life clear of any reference to God in any way shape or form. Keep it out of my schools, my government, my public areas. I don't want to see it. Essentially, keep your religion to yourself."
Even though I am a Christian, I think I can sympathize with you in this regard. I really do want to respect your beliefs and not offend you.
Here's the thing though: If you remove God in the way you describe, aren't you, in effect, imposing Atheism on others? As an atheist, you believe in no God and want to ensure that no God is exactly what is found in schools, government, and public areas.
How do you keep no religion from becoming a kind of religion itself?
I don't really know the answer here. Like I said, I'm not out to offend anyone. Neither am I suggesting that we should force God on others. I'm only try to demonstrate that forcing no God on others by putting a gag order on what they can express about religion might really be the same thing in a different guise.
You're confusing religions alienating their followers with atheism. Just because followers don't want to be labeled as Catholic, Muslim, or Bhuddist anymore doesn't make them athiests anymore than someone going to a Catholic based University makes them Catholic.
-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
No, if anything, those things you mentioned speak for agnostics, in that they do not give a damn about the status of religion or about atheism. Those things are completely neutral on the issues. There are MANY religious gamers who play GTA, Guitar Hero, and watch MTV and so forth.
To "speak for atheists" means to directly state that "no deity exists" which is something NONE of those things do. Most media just plain doesn't care whether or not religion exists
Killing the prophets would not change shit, a true atheist knows that if Jesus were dead some other dude would just take his place, same with Muhammed, Buddah and the rest. The people had a need for a new religion at the time they were invented if the prophets die before getting enough faith someone else would step in and take their place. This game would be neverending as alternative religions would arise to take the place of current religions.
i am so sick of people saying this shit - HOW THE FUCK do you know that if you killed abraham that another would come after him - you don't. and i'm sure that would definitely shuffle the time cards and things would turn out radically different
yes there would be other radicals that would surface but you have now idea if they would turn out any similar
from the other boards i've read about this topic this is the only one that is almost decidedly completely against the game - you will find after it is released that not everyone is going to hate this game and the developer is a genius for actually coming up with an actual ORIGINAL IDEA in this world of hacks - that is why this story is getting the attention it is besides the obvious religious backlash
where were you all during 'left behind' lol
Wow. Leave it to dimented college kids to create something that ends up bashing their own religion about not having a religion. Atheism always confused me... Why would you belive in not beliving? Just go home!
Yeah, shut the hell up. You're making the rest of us look bad.
All people have different reasons for not believing. My friend doesn't believe because his brother got into a car accident and nearly died. I believe because I've nearly died many times, but always come back from it. I was pronounced brain-dead by doctors from Duke College in NC, and a day later I got out of the bed, walked to the bathroom, and took a piss, all the while noticing that people were staring at me like I was a fucking zombie.
It's not for you to judge what people believe nor why they believe it, so keep you assinine opinion on other people's beliefs to yourself.
Atheism is the refusal to accept the existence of a Deity, it is not a religion, any more than the fact that a Muslim is not a Christian is a religion, Islam is the religion, not 'lack of Christianity'.
It really annoys me when people call Atheism a religion, if that was the case, I could start a religion based on the fact that there are no purple winged monkeys on Planet Earth.
Atheism is the belief that no deity exists. When it comes to God related matters, faith is all you have. It doesn't matter whether your faithful to God or to his lack of existence, it's all faith. That said atheism is not a religion. It has no rituals nor structure.
It would not be a religion if a religion was defined as just consisting of rituals and structure. Religion is a belief or a set of beliefs; without that there would be no use for rituals or structure.
It didn't stop the flying spaghetti monster... so you probably could.
God exists.
God does not exist.
Frankly, I have a difficult time understanding how one of these statements can possibly have more or less religious content than the other. Both are faith-based wordviews expressing foundational beliefs about God's existence (or non-existence).
Athiests don't have a voice? What about Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Neil deGrasse Tyson, James Randi and Penn and Teller? We have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to voices. This guy is a whisper at best and should be ignored right after he is denounced as a fool.
so you are calling the developer a fool? you just MISPELLED ATHEIST you fucking retard. i love how armchair atheist just sit there and DON'T DO SHIT - this person obviously is doing exactly what he set out to do - get people talking. you forget the point of the game was to illustrate that the world would probably be better off without the apocalyptic religions that end in fire an brimstone - you don't see any buddhists being targeted here
You have no idea who I am or what do proving that the developer isn't the only one with foolish comments. It's really hard to take someone seriously who is so hellbent about pointing out a typo while ruthlessly abusing grammar and dropping a D from the word and. All of the people I listed do a far better job of getting people talking, Dawkin's book sold over a million copies vs. nothing on this "game", and they do it with a far more effective methodology that what this fool is attempting. Despite what you might wish to believe, not all press is good press.
As to the universe, well it will end at some point in time. It could end in fire. It could end in ice. It might even end in "fire an brimstone" <sic>. Current thought is that the universe expands and expands and we all hit absolute zero at some distant date in the future. The Earth will most certainly end in fire, either consumed by the Sun or in a collision with the Andromeda galaxy. Science is rather apocalyptic about these two fates. They even go so far as to predict when they will happen. Now is the world better off not knowing this?
He claims to have made a game featuring the Abrahamic religions so it's not a surprise that Budda isn't there. Neither is Thor, Zeus, the Invisible Pink Unicorn or His Noodly Goodness. There is always room for a sequel.
"or what do"???? who is the one ruthlessly abusing grammer here?? you are obviously an idiot. so just shut the hell up
All I can think of when I read this is the Dragon Quest games, where you actually fight (and defeat) God.
I think you do that in one of the SaGa games too (one of the ones for Game Boy which was renamed as Final Fantasy Legend in America).
that's exactly where I am in Dragon Quest VII.
and yea, you do in SaGa, there even was a stand-up comedian talking about it, saying God is an Amish dude or something like that
岩「…Ace beats Jack」
FInal Fantasy 10 had some very anti-organized religion undertones as well, the whole "the world's relgiion is lying to us all and using us" thing.
Very interesting trend I see more often then you would think. Perhaps game developers are a religiously jaded bunch?
Game developers? More like Japanese RPG developers, probably since the country has a long, not-so-friendly history of interaction with Christians.
Take Fire Emblem 10 as an example - the Evil Empire is a racist theocracy, their leader is the "Apostle" and her "Holy Guard", their white mages are "Bishops" (complete with hat/robe), and the endgame plot has the PCs renouncing said religion, fighting the "Disciples of Order" army, and KILLING the Goddess. Yeesh.
On-topic: I'm an atheist, and so long as you respect my First Amendment rights, I'll respect yours. Yes, it's tasteless, but so was V-Tech Rampage, Godhatesfags.com, etc. and they're still recognized as "free speech".
Then I read this:
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