FW: Christian paramilitary-style 'convert or kill' assault-on-NYC video
game linked to "Purpose Driven Life" author
Hi.
I'm writing to bring a shocking story to your attention, but not to shock you.
It is an expose by Talk To Action contributor Jonathan Hutson, also
communications director for the Washington D.C. based group Trial Lawyers
For Public Justice, on a newly released video game in which players adopt
the roles of Christian paramilitaries assaulting New York City and
fighting block to block to forcibly convert all the residents to
Christianity or - should they resist - slaughtering them. Hutson has
linked the company which made the game to the financial empire of "A
Purpose Driven Life" author and Christian leader Rick Warren - who is
typically billed as a moderate alternative to harsher voices from the
Christian right.
You can read about the game on the Talk To Action website , and if your
time is short I urge to you follow this website link, now, to the story
rather than reading what I've written in this email below. Here's the
story :
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959
Images from the game show, from across the water, dense plumes of smoke
rising over the city in a panorama of catastrophe strikingly similar to
views of NYC the evening following the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks. This violent fantasy of an assault on an urban area with the
largest population of Jews in the world is notable for the deep strains
of antisemitism held by elements of the Christian right and especially
among those with premillenial eschatological end-time beliefs that which
Israel will destroyed and all Jews killed, except for a small fraction
who convert to Christianity, in the final battles of Armageddon. Further,
the moral repugnance of inherent in conditioning children or teens to
think of themselves as "warriors of God" who must perpetuate a bloody
religious crusade should also be noted. In the video, as players kill
more and more, corpses pile up in the streets. It is quite realistic.
But, that's not why I'm writing to you ! - actually, I wanted to
encourage you to pass along this story. Not specifically because it's
awful. No.
This story - and its emergence now into a wider American public
consciousness - has the ability to cut through the difficulties
inherent in teaching the public essential truths about the Christian
nationalist movement : especially it's ideological extremity and its
often covert methods.
People who read read Jonathan Hutson's piece simply get it, they grasp
the implications. The underlying viciousness cannot be concealed, and so
the story cuts through denial and mental blockages. I feel it may
represent an unprecedented opportunity to shape a new public awareness of
a growing ideological extremity among parts of the American body politic.
Frederick Clarkson and I founded Talk To Action, last November, as the
only sustained community and forum dedicated solely to discussion and
writing about the Christian right movement either on the Internet or off
of it. The site strongly supports same sex marriage and access to
abortion rights. Many of the top journalists and scholars and activists
working against the Christian right contribute - Esther Kaplan, Chip
Berlet, Michelle Goldberg, Dr. Bruce Prescott, Frederick Clarkson, Joan
Bokaer, Jonathan Hutson, the Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer, Andrew Weaver, and
others : such deeply informed voices have long been marginalized. Now,
they are starting to reach a wider audience than ever before, and just in
time.
In the short time of its existence Talk To Action has already had a
national impact in a few areas. But now, with Jonathan Hutson's
breakout expose, Talk To Action seems poised to emerge onto the national
stage - where it's deeply informed voice on the Christian right movement
- its structure, its methods, its goals - is desperately needed. If you
feel the Christian right should be opposed, please, send Jonathan
Hutson's story along to your friends, family, and colleagues. It is
powerful stuff, it cuts through denial and commands attention - and, that
is now necessary. Truly.
Thank you very much for reading this,
Best,
Bruce Wilson
Co-Founder, Talk To Action ( http://www.talk2action.org )
======================
Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian
My Blog
http://blog.myspace.com/rainbow_christian
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