3 ms·

Not sure if the game has an "anti-christian" tone, but I think in a secular society that should not be a problem, even if true.

trollybaz 6y ago
The article notes that if the same portrayal was done to any other religion besides Christianity, then there would probably be an uproar. In today's society, with emphases on unconscious bias, race theory and egalitarianism, we are generally not okay with this kind of tone.
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  > The article notes that if the same portrayal was done to any other religion besides Christianity, then there would probably be an uproar. You mean like every single Call Of Duty game? Because it is in fact regularly being done.
  - leetcrew 6y ago
    keep in mind roughly half of the call of duty games are set in WWII (or space, lol) where this religious subtext doesn't really exist. the franchise does have you spend a lot of time killing people in the middle east, but the games don't explore religious ideology. the context clues pretty clearly point to your adversaries being jihadists and/or soldiers for a fundamentalist regime, but I don't recall the games ever explicitly saying so. in COD, terrorists blow things up simply because they are terrorists, not because they have any sort of coherent goal. this is not to say that depictions in COD are not damaging in their own way, but they don't have anything quite so blatant as what is described in TFA.
woko 6y ago
Try replacing "christian" in your statement with "jew" or "muslism", and read it out loud. Being "anti-christian" is an issue, because it is always an issue when a society is against a group of people. One has the right to make fun and criticize religions, but not a large group of people, especially solely based on their traits, be it religion/faith, sexuality, etc.
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  It's funny you say that because most modern FPS games are about American Christians 'taking care' of large groups of people in foreign lands, including Muslims in the Middle East, Chinese, North Koreans etc. This is somehow fine as these are our official 'state enemies'. It is funny how the problem is when it is turned around.
  - snouger 6y ago
    I think this is a dated comment, actually. Scifi is increasingly popular, with multiple CoDs using it, the new Prey, Titanfall/Apex, the upcoming (unless it’s delayed again) Cyberpunk, etc. CoD and BF both went back to WWI/WWII for some releases as well. And whatever Fortnite and Overwatch’s settings are. Kinda-cartoon kinda sci-fi? I don’t think there as many generic modern shooters these days. Doom is kinda sci-fi and kinda killing actual demons from hell ¯\(ツ)/¯
- BlueTemplar 6y ago
  What do you do when people identify first by their religion ? Islam is quite problematic in this aspect. AFAIK the current resurgence of political Islam stems from its very core. Maybe it could be reformed to be (durably !) compatible with a secular state, but would that reformed religion be still Islam, or would it be as different as Christianity is from Judaism ?
gwd 6y ago
The author's problem with the game is, in fact, that it ends up mirroring Nazi ideology almost exactly: Manly men with superior genes and culture, looking for lebensraum, improving the effeminate, "weak" culture they're colonizing. Oops.
- 737maxtw 6y ago
  Well, given the 'inspirations' that regime had, one shouldn't be surprised.
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  This is in fact what American Exceptionalism leads to as well, frankly. I think no religion or religious organization should be spared of critique, but realize that in the West, (Christians), have been exporting culture that's kind of about trashing other peoples. Take a look at Call Of Duty or even something as innocent looking as Uncharted for how 'we' are treating other cultures.

trollybaz 6y ago

The article notes that if the same portrayal was done to any other religion besides Christianity, then there would probably be an uproar. In today's society, with emphases on unconscious bias, race theory and egalitarianism, we are generally not okay with this kind of tone.

AsyncAwait 6y ago
> The article notes that if the same portrayal was done to any other religion besides Christianity, then there would probably be an uproar. You mean like every single Call Of Duty game? Because it is in fact regularly being done.
- leetcrew 6y ago
  keep in mind roughly half of the call of duty games are set in WWII (or space, lol) where this religious subtext doesn't really exist. the franchise does have you spend a lot of time killing people in the middle east, but the games don't explore religious ideology. the context clues pretty clearly point to your adversaries being jihadists and/or soldiers for a fundamentalist regime, but I don't recall the games ever explicitly saying so. in COD, terrorists blow things up simply because they are terrorists, not because they have any sort of coherent goal. this is not to say that depictions in COD are not damaging in their own way, but they don't have anything quite so blatant as what is described in TFA.

woko 6y ago

Try replacing "christian" in your statement with "jew" or "muslism", and read it out loud. Being "anti-christian" is an issue, because it is always an issue when a society is against a group of people. One has the right to make fun and criticize religions, but not a large group of people, especially solely based on their traits, be it religion/faith, sexuality, etc.

AsyncAwait 6y ago
It's funny you say that because most modern FPS games are about American Christians 'taking care' of large groups of people in foreign lands, including Muslims in the Middle East, Chinese, North Koreans etc. This is somehow fine as these are our official 'state enemies'. It is funny how the problem is when it is turned around.
- snouger 6y ago
  I think this is a dated comment, actually. Scifi is increasingly popular, with multiple CoDs using it, the new Prey, Titanfall/Apex, the upcoming (unless it’s delayed again) Cyberpunk, etc. CoD and BF both went back to WWI/WWII for some releases as well. And whatever Fortnite and Overwatch’s settings are. Kinda-cartoon kinda sci-fi? I don’t think there as many generic modern shooters these days. Doom is kinda sci-fi and kinda killing actual demons from hell ¯\(ツ)/¯
BlueTemplar 6y ago
What do you do when people identify first by their religion ? Islam is quite problematic in this aspect. AFAIK the current resurgence of political Islam stems from its very core. Maybe it could be reformed to be (durably !) compatible with a secular state, but would that reformed religion be still Islam, or would it be as different as Christianity is from Judaism ?

gwd 6y ago

The author's problem with the game is, in fact, that it ends up mirroring Nazi ideology almost exactly: Manly men with superior genes and culture, looking for lebensraum, improving the effeminate, "weak" culture they're colonizing. Oops.

737maxtw 6y ago
Well, given the 'inspirations' that regime had, one shouldn't be surprised.
AsyncAwait 6y ago
This is in fact what American Exceptionalism leads to as well, frankly. I think no religion or religious organization should be spared of critique, but realize that in the West, (Christians), have been exporting culture that's kind of about trashing other peoples. Take a look at Call Of Duty or even something as innocent looking as Uncharted for how 'we' are treating other cultures.