When the Entertainment Software Association announced on May 19th that Texas Governor Rick Perry would deliver the keynote address at E3 2008, GamePolitics was one of the few news outlets to publicly question the ESA's decision.
We expect more raised eyebrows over Perry's selection given yesterday's reports on Wired and The Escapist that in November, 2006 Perry affirmed the comments of controversial minister John Hagee that non-Christians are condemned to Hell.
In the photo at left, Perry is seen covering his face while Hagee preaches.
Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, recently rejected Hagee's endorsement over, as CNN reported, "Hagee's comments that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling God's will by hastening the desire of Jews to return to Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy."
As the Dallas Morning News reported on November 6, 2006:
Gov. Rick Perry, after a God and country sermon attended by dozens of political candidates Sunday, said that he agreed with the minister that non-Christians will be condemned to hell.
"In my faith, that's what it says, and I'm a believer of that," the governor said.
...Asked afterward at a political rally whether he agreed with Mr. Hagee, the governor said he didn't hear anything that he would take exception to. He said that he believes in the inerrancy of the Bible and that those who don't accept Jesus as their savior will go to hell.
If the ESA posted a blog and called it a news site, journalists would rightfully balk and it wouldn't pass a smell test. Remarkably, GamePolitics doesn't face the same scrutiny even though it's funded by the ECA and tainted with anti-ESA vitriol. At the end of the day, calling GamePolitics a news site is as laughable as saying there's a Cuban free press.
Ouch.
Despite the ESA's reaction, I stand by what I wrote regarding the appropriateness - or lack thereof - of having Gov. Perry deliver the E3 keynote. However, I am making one edit to the headline. While Gov. Perry agreed with Rev. Hagee's contention that non-Christians would be condemned to Hell, it does not appear to be a direct quote. That error has been fixed.
Comments
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
edit:: i can't read
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Umm just so you know you are at a website called Gamepolitics which reports on politics that affect... games *facepalm*
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Yes, but that's just it. The fact that this blog can post several stories per day about the intersection of videogames and politics shows that videogames are highly political. So why should politics be barred from a videogame convention?
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Why not?
-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
@Brokenscope
His beliefs are hateful and demonstrates why Christianity and Christians in general are hostile to everyone else.
"Everyone else will burn in Hell!" is a hateful and deeply divisive remark, and I find it repugnant that a governor would affirm the remarks of a televangelist hatemonger.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
First of all,not every Christian is some hateful bigot(I would know,since I am one).
Second of all,you shouldn't talk about a religion you have quite obviously demonstrated you know nothing about.
Lastly,you shouldn't base a religion sorley on nutjobs like Jack Thompson and this guy,because it makes you look like an idiot.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
If anyone on this board can point me to the spot of any Chrisitan denomination that says the following, "Anyone, regardless of beliefs, can get in to heaven as long as they are a good person. God judges each person individually and belief in and acceptance of Jesus is not a prerequisite for entry to heaven." than I will rescind my argument. It's all well and good to say I know nothing of Chrisitanity when you can't point to a single thing that I said as wrong.
Also, just because you believe someone will burn in hell does not make you hateful. Wishing someone to burn in hell makes you hateful. Most christians believe that non-believers are damned to hell for all eternity, that's why they are so intent on converting those who don't believe as they do. They honestly don't want to have people burning in hell. I do not believe that holding this belief makes a person a bigot or hate filled, it's simply xenophobic and wrong.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Well the second half - "God judges each person individually and belief in and acceptance of Jesus is not a prerequisite for entry to heaven" is accepted doctrine in much of the mainstream church.
The bible often says things like 'he that believes in me will live forever' it never says the negative interpretation of that (that you seem to be implying it says).. and never once mentions following organised religion either (except to slag the concept off relentlessly, even to the point of saying at one point "Why are you following rules? They're all man made anyway.").
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
I think the point isn't whether it's true or not, but it's what these people believe. While a person can believe I'm going to hell, I don't particularly care until it starts to become personal (such as being harrassed for being non-Christian or the like).
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
The bible also says that the earth is the centre of our solar system. OOPS that wasnt too correct was it. The church wasnt too happy about it when Gallileo tried to prove the true facts. Oh well not everything in the bible is true. proved.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
"The bible also says that the earth is the centre of our solar system."
...Yeah, you can stop talking now. Thanks for showing everyone that atheists can be ignorant and blindly hateful, too.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
The Bible DOES Says the Sun Revolves Around the Earth
(in error i did mean solar system not universe as such)
Perhaps the most famous passage in the Bible regarding the sun’s movement around the earth is where Joshua causes the sun to stand still in the sky. Bold emphasis added:
Joshua 10:12-13 Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
Modern Christian apologists will try to dismiss this passage as “metaphor” but it clearly says “the sun stood still” and stopped in “the midst of heaven”, indicating that the authors mistakenly believed the sun revolves around the earth.
There are other passages that support this idea that the sun revolves around the earth (bold emphasis added):
Ecclesiastes 1:5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
“Hasteth to his place where he arose” is a telling phrase. After the sun finishes going down, it runs back (under the earth presumably) to the place where it started the previous morning.
Psalms 19:4-6 In them hath he (Yahweh) set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
“Tabernacle (or tent) for the sun” is an interesting metaphor. It implies that the sun rests for the night (this is what tents are for). The authors didn’t realize that the sun doesn’t (even metaphorically speaking) rest under the earth. It’s still active on the other side of the planet. This passage in Psalms also seems reminiscent of the Greek myths of Apollo who took the sun on its daily “circuit” across the sky.
The Bible says the Earth is fixed in place, too.
1st Chronicles 16:30 …the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.
Psalms 93:1 ... the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
Psalms 96:10 ... the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved....
These verses explicitly claim that the earth is fixed in place. There’s no room for interpretation. What other understanding of the phrase, “it shall not be moved” can we have
*-----MOST IMPORTANT PART!
and in particular relation to THESE last 3 quotes (1st Chronicles 16:30,Psalms 93:1,Psalms 96:10) regarding the earth being firmly fixed and immovable, It was this THESE EXACT VERSES that were used as evidence against Galileo, who argued for the theory of Copernicus, that the earth is not immovable, but rotates around the sun. It was for teaching this that he was called toRome 
there you go. happy now?
*------MOST IMPORTANT PART!
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Here here to the learned!
...Oh but really theory of relativity makes it possible that the earth is stationary and all of existence rotates around it, so it just looks like its moving, but really its the power of god that keeps it anchored. ;P
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
It's quite telling that in order to criticize the Bible for supposed "contradictions", some people will stop at Galileo and ignore the discoveries of later physicists. A better interpretation of these Biblical verses is that the authors understood the concept of relative velocity. The sun, in fact, does move around the earth -- relative to the earth.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
wow... damned if i do damned if i dont...
as Wearyman said earlier to me when i talked very generally:
"What the heck are you talking about?
NOWHERE in the Bible does it say the Earth is the center of the Solar System. In fact, the Bible makes no mention of the "Solar System" at all. Or any planetary system beyond general references to "Heavenly Bodies" and the stars in the sky.
what the heck are you smokin?"
so i talk in detail and get slated for being an 'extreme biblical literalist'.. wow.. nice open discussion we are having here.
Strange how im not the one coming across as agressive :). Guess im just happy to ask questions about things.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
The Bible also tells of the story of the Tower of Babel. Those builders though they could build a tower to reach the heavens. We now know that they wouldn't have reached anything but empty space. It still doesn't change the fact that they though the heavens were just beyond the sky.
Also, give it up on the sun thing. Weathermen call it "sunrise" and "sunset" for one common sense reason. Standing on the earth, it looks like the sun rises and sets. The early Catholic church may have been wrong in their condemnatin of Galileo but that doesn't suddenly endoctrinate the Bible as establishing the Earth as the center of the Universe.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
well now im confused.. do i read the bible literally or not, and if its different in different places, who decides?
I was replying right from the start to Kaylel's comment:
''Wait? Just because the Christian bible said so makes it solid fact? What if the Christian view of the afterlife is completely wrong, and the Greek afterlife is the real afterlife. Greek mythology is much older, so it should be more accurate right? The problem is, what is the right religion? There are tons of much older religions. If someone says "I am the son of god, I have a book about what the afterlife is really like, and I am going to heaven while everyone else is going to hell". You would attack that person. People like you are applying the same thing to us.''
He was talking about the 'bible says literally that non believers go to hell argument'. I was merely SUPPORTING his case that the bible isnt supposed to be read literally (for the incorrect facts ive pointed out, and the Tower of Babel facts you just pointed out).
All im saying is that i dont agree with the 'bible condemns non christians to hell'. I believe if you live your life correctly, and it turns out there is a heaven, that your a good person, that you'll be let in anyway. Forgiven for not strictly believing. Thats MY belief system and im entitled to it as an agnostic. I just find it very confusig when certain bits are read literally and some bits arent, yet it is the reader deciding, which will always be subjective, so nobody can claim to be truly right including the original pastor who made the comment.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
"well now im confused.. do i read the bible literally or not, and if its different in different places, who decides?"
Suppose a science teacher holds up a basketball in a class and declares, "This is the sun." She then holds up a marble and states, "This is the earth," moving the marble slowly around the basketball. Later, she tells you that the students all need to complete certain projects to get a good grade in class.
Does one take the teacher literally or not, and if its different in different places, who decides?
If a student doesn't complete the projects claiming he didn't know whether or not to take the teacher literally, do you think his excuse would fly?
The truth is that the context of statements help us understand what the statements are intended to convey. It is only when we don't want to hear something that we start getting "confused" about what is meant.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
''...Yeah, you can stop talking now. Thanks for showing everyone that atheists can be ignorant and blindly hateful, too"
again, apologies if you think i am ignorant and 'hateful'. I merely have questions, and actually i am an agnostic, not an atheist. Its these kind of issues/questions that have always confused me when it comes to learning about religion and having faith. So i ask them (im not going to apologise for asking questions ever) , and i get abuse. Hardly seems fair.
I do strongly take issue with being called 'hateful' too. I try and live my life every day thinking about others and helping others above myself, and live my life by a strong moral code. Havent ever been in trouble with police or authority figures. I try and do everything i can to live my life as a good role model for others. SO to be called 'hateful' .. wow.. if that isn't judging somebody i dont know what is.
I guess the hypocracy of how one second people preach that you shouldn't judge others, and then do the complete opposite just baffles me and gives me more questions. But i wont ask them because ill get verbal abuse for it. *sigh*
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Yes, after reading several of your comments, you _do_ sound hateful. Go read through them yourself, and maybe you'll see.
"I try and live my life every day thinking about others and helping others above myself, and live my life by a strong moral code. Havent ever been in trouble with police or authority figures."
Irrelevant. "Hateful" doesn't mean or imply "criminal".
"SO to be called 'hateful' .. wow.. if that isn't judging somebody i dont know what is."
1. No, saying that someone can be "hateful" is not judging them. It's judging their words and actions.
2. You're assuming that the person that called you hateful was a Christian.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
"SO to be called 'hateful' .. wow.. if that isn't judging somebody i dont know what is."
you misinterpreted what i meant there, i wasnt saying the word hateful means judging somebody. I was talking about hypocracy. saying its unfair that you call me hateful when you dont know me. i wasn't defining the word.
Apologies if i do sound 'hateful' but i have re read my comments, and i really cant see when i show HATRED (and hatred is NOT disagreement) toward anyone. Clearly that wasnt my intent as i dont HATE any religion.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Extreme biblical literalists like you harm christianity and honest, open understanding of the bible.
Try to read it in context instead of pretending it's an astrophysics textbook.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Sigh...... Galieo at the time did NOT have proof. That is why the Catholic Church did not accept the theory first and outright.
Galieo just speculated.
Read and learn
http://www.catholic.com/library/Galileo_Controversy.asp
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
What the heck are you talking about?
NOWHERE in the Bible does it say the Earth is the center of the Solar System. In fact, the Bible makes no mention of the "Solar System" at all. Or any planetary system beyond general references to "Heavenly Bodies" and the stars in the sky.
what the heck are you smokin?
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Sweeping generalizations FTL.
You have every right to believe that, and it makes me sad that the most vocal (or most publicized) members of Christianity are like this. However, not all Christians act 'holier than thou' like this person. Please don't group all people who have faith with these doomsayers.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
@Arad
Do you believe that if someone doesn't accept Jesus as their personal lord and savior that they cannot get to heaven? This is the belief espoused by your theocracy. Unless someone follows the teachings that Chrisitanity put forth, there is no possiblity of that person acheiving total bliss in the afterlife. If you can't achieve bliss, then you burn in hell.
Either you believe this, or you aren't a Chrisitian. Being a Christian means following the doctrine set forth by either
A.) The New Testament, "No one goes to the father except through me."
or
B.) The religious institution that interprets the Bible for you, all of which say either follow us or go to hell.
Simply put, you either believe these things and are Christian, or you do not and are something else. You can't cherry pick what you want to believe and still expect to be taken seriously. And I'm sorry, but having a belief that says only the people who agree with you will be okay in the afterlife is one of the highest forms of xenophobia. Either be just like us, or risk eternal damnation. That is Christianity, and that is Christians. If you believe, on any level, that only those following your belief system will achieve bliss in some far off place, than you are "holier than thou". Also, notice how I am not grouping, "All with faith..." though most belief systems are as xenophobic as Christianity if not more so.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
I'm curious now as to what your particular belief system is and how you propose to avoid coming off as "holier than thou" in sharing it. Or perhaps you are too "holier than thou" to share it in the first place?
If you espouse complete tolerance, won't that make it difficult to confront any perceived narrow-mindedness in others since such will inevitably be seen as intolerant?
How do you avoid the self-referential incoherence in:
- Everyone's belief system is right except for those who don't agree that everyone's belief system is right.
- Most belief systems are xenophobic because their intolerance is foreign and strange.
The whole "bliss in the afterlife" thing is a red herring. Belief systems who don't have afterlife concepts are just as dogmatic as those that do. For instance, the atheist's beliefs snatch heaven away from Christians just as surely as the Christian's beliefs consign atheists to hell.
But if you are a Christian, you don't really believe that atheists can prevent you from getting to heaven. And if you are an atheist, you don't really believe that Christians can consign you to hell. So, what's the big deal? People believe differently than you do. It's not offensive, it is just the logical outworkings of how belief systems work.
Get over it.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
The big deal is that it's a lot more hurtful to tell someone that they should/will suffer horribly for the way they lead their life than telling someone that they won't get a cookie for behaving as they were told.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Wrong. Neither is hurtful until you start giving what others believe the ability to define your own reality.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
You just go straight to hell where you belong you antisemetic bitch. That wanst inflammatory was it. how about Es ist Zeit für Rache! Wir müssen die Juden ausrotten!
Okay okay, thats just a troll. Personally I have a hard time not accepting anyone as long as they leave everyone else alone about it. The problem is that so, so many people behave that they are better, even slightly, than anyone that is different. I am bitterly devote to the idea that everyone and everything is the same in value (without context) and thus I refuse to even be around anyone that is regularly part of any church. After all if they even want to change what you religiously believe, ignoring what you want or need, they think their way is better uniformly. Bah I say! Bah!
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Bravo
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
And people wonder why I turned away in large part from Christianity and became an Agnostic. Everything you said there were the reasons why I couldn't stand being part of that religion any longer and ultimately decided to follow my own path. Religions that essentially say, "Worship or burn in Hell," "Do as we say or burn in Hell," or "Convert or die," make you feel guilty about yourself and say whatever you like is wrong are not religions I care to follow. And to this day I am extremely suspicious of most organized religions.
Re: Christian beliefs
This sort of stuff is exactly why blind faith in everything that's said in the bible does more harm than good.
This is nothing but Christian fundamentalism, which is just as bad as any other religious fundamentalism.
I sometimes entertain myself by thinking about what Jesus would do and say in reaction to bulls*** like this. From what I remember from when I was taught about him (I went to school in a country that does NOT separate church and state) he had a very common sense type of an approach to many things. I have a feeling he'd march down to wherever this dude has his office, knock politely on the door, and then continue to smack him down (verbally) for better part of the day until the dude was weeping under his desk begging for forgiveness.
-- http://pixelantes.blogspot.com/
Re: Christian beliefs
FYI Although there are some exceptions, last I checked there are almost no Christian fundamentalists who advocate strapping bombs to yourself and blowing up random people. All are the same eh? Go read wikipedia!
Re: Christian beliefs
No, they just place bombs in government buildings like in Oklahoma City or Planned Parenthood clinics or gay bars. They also have no bid contracts for mercenary work that is outside the laws of the US and the countries they "work in" such as Iraq and will shoot at anyone who dresses or speaks "funny". Yup, that's what good Christian fundies do (the owner of Blackwater USA is a "devout Biible-Believing Christian".
Re: Christian beliefs
Personally I'd like to see him use a rope as a flail as when he drove the moneylenders from the temple.
Hunting the shadows of the troubled dreams.
Re: Christian beliefs
Please do not ad-lib with the Bible. It's bad enough when Hagee and his troupe do so.
The NIV translation of Matthew 21:12 states, "Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves."
No matter which translation you rely upon, it will not mention Jesus using a rope as a flail. And while many biblical artists have used this imagery, to my knowledge there are no primary sources for this anecdote. So they were ad-libbing as well, as many artists are wont to do.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
You have no idea what it means to be Christian. Each person holds their own beliefs. They are not perscribed to us.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
I would say that you are the one who does not know what being Christian entails. Being a Christian means subscribing to a system of beliefs called Christianity. There are many flavors, but all follow either the New Testament gospels, or a preacher who follows these gospels. And I would say that your beliefs were prescribed to you, either by your parent or by someone around you who indoctrinated you to the core system. No one has ever woken up one morning of their own accord and said, "Today I am going to start believing in Christ." without having someone clue them in to the doctrine.
It's fine to say that you don't believe that someone who doesn't follow chrisitanity will burn in hell. Perhaps you believe that God, as you see it, will judge each person of their own good and evil, but that is not what your belief system says. If you don't hold this core view, then you are not from any branch of Christianity that I have ever heard of, and I used to be a devout Catholic who tried to learn as much as possible about every denomination of Chrisitanity.
There are more kinds of Christians than you can imagine.
One famously said, "Because I believe in the Bible, I believe Hell exists. Because I believe in God's mercy, I believe it is empty."
The monophysite branches of Christianity don't believe Jesus was human at all; that he was an entirely divine being with no human part. They deny the Trinity. Unitarians also deny the Trinity; they believe God has only a singular nature, and some believe that Jesus was purely human and not the Son of God. Both are Christians, yet they have completel opposite beliefs concerning the nature of Jesus.
You sound like one of those people who believes a lot of garbage about Islam because a bunch of terrorists keep spouting it as gospel.
Not all Christians are Bible-bashers; not all Christians believe in the literal truth of the Bible (the pope certainly doesn't) and not all Christians believe that non-Christians are going to Hell -- no matter what the Bible may say.
Re: There are more kinds of Christians than you can imagine.
"Because I believe in the Bible, I believe Hell exists. Because I believe in God's mercy, I believe it is empty."
Purgatory must be very crowded then.
Although I wonder where Satan lives if hell is empty. Last I heard he was in Georgia.
Re: There are more kinds of Christians than you can imagine.
This may be an off-topic comment, but I find that to be a beautiful and inspiring quote. Could you tell me who it's attributed to? A Google search turns up only this page. ;)
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Wow, I didn't expect this to balloon the way it did.
I'm not a member of any brick-and-mortar church or sect, but I keep my Bible close and read from it when I can. As for the black-and-white "Worship or Burn" philosophy that has been described, the first time I heard of this was when the pope apparently drudged up an ancient declaration that said anyone who isn't Catholic will burn. But that's beside the point.
What do I believe, you ask? "Before one judges others, one's self must be judged." Simply put, unless you're perfect, you have no right to judge other people on their eligibility for heaven. I am far from perfect, and I remind myself of that every time I would find fault in someone else.
Does that satisfy your curiousity concerning my religious beliefs?
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
You mean why the loud, holier than thou, televangelist Christians are hostile towards everyone.
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
...You have GOT to be kidding me. Who hired this man to give a speech at E3? What the hell were they thinking?
Oh wait. Maybe they're taking a leaf out of GTA's book and trying to drum up as much controversy as possible to get people to show up
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
He is honest with his beliefs and hasn't compromised them to be popular.
edit::This is a neutral statement meant as a comment, not as a complement towards the subject, there might have even been an attempt at humor. Also, it seems people still love going @XXXXXXX as opposed to the neat reply function that makes awsome little threads
Re: E3 Keynote Speaker: "Non-Christians Will Burn in Hell"
Your premise is incorrect. Texas is the Bible Belt, this statement makes him popular, not unpopular.