Scientology Spoof Takes Grand Theft Auto V Ads Viral

[1337mokro]

I have a feeling you would enjoy "The Pope Rap (Modern Day Profit)" by Trevor Moore. It's a catchy little gangster rap by the pope in which he brags about all of the money the church brings in, poking at a lot of the shady and unethical things in the history of the papacy.

TRULYBURITISH! Y U NO ADD LINK!?

I do it 4 U


Njoy it people

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

I have a feeling you would enjoy "The Pope Rap (Modern Day Profit)" by Trevor Moore. It's a catchy little gangster rap by the pope in which he brags about all of the money the church brings in, poking at a lot of the shady and unethical things in the history of the papacy.

TRULYBURITISH! Y U NO ADD LINK!?

I do it 4 U


Njoy it people

Lol, dude, I posted that, not TrulyBritish. Unfortunately, YouTube is blocked on these computers (I'm offshore at the moment), so I couldn't get a link.

 

[TrulyBritish]

I have a feeling you would enjoy "The Pope Rap (Modern Day Profit)" by Trevor Moore. It's a catchy little gangster rap by the pope in which he brags about all of the money the church brings in, poking at a lot of the shady and unethical things in the history of the papacy.

TRULYBURITISH! Y U NO ADD LINK!?

I do it 4 U


Njoy it people

Goddammit Mokro How did you even manage to confuse me in this?

 

[TheMyffic]

I really find it funny what they're doing here, but there's one thing that keeps worrying me -- there are people who are going to try to apply this to all religions, not just obviously dubious ones like Scientology. More demotivational low-jabs... great.

No, by all means, take a look at all religions. Sceptical thinking can be applied to everything. Besides, if an idea is so poorly constructed that it's threatened by the lightest scrutiny, then it shouldn't be supported.

A world where good ideas are favored over bad ones is highly motivational. Jab away!

 

[1337mokro]

Goddammit Mokro How did you even manage to confuse me in this?

Lol, dude, I posted that, not TrulyBritish. Unfortunately, YouTube is blocked on these computers (I'm offshore at the moment), so I couldn't get a link.

I have NO Idea what happened. I just pressed the quote button on the escapist nothing else.

Anyway sorry British are free to go, TIM managed to frame you for his crime, my bad

As for you TIM you are absolved of your sins by the Church of the FSM

 

[SirPlindington]

12 cents someone takes this out of context and claims video games are promoting religious scams. Yeah, that's right. 12 cents. Cos I roll with the big boys!

 

[TrulyBritish]

Goddammit Mokro How did you even manage to confuse me in this?

Lol, dude, I posted that, not TrulyBritish. Unfortunately, YouTube is blocked on these computers (I'm offshore at the moment), so I couldn't get a link.

I have NO Idea what happened. I just pressed the quote button on the escapist nothing else.

Anyway sorry British are free to go, TIM managed to frame you for his crime, my bad

As for you TIM you are absolved of your sins by the Church of the FSM

S'alright Mokro, just don't make a bit of it
May his noodly appendage grace us all.
Ramen. *bows head reverently*

 

[Parakeettheprawn]

I see what you're getting at, but I'd be interested to know what games you're thinking of that take a jab at religion specifically, especially in its modern day form. I'm not all that hardcore a gamer but to my mind games tend to focus more and jabbing at either religion in it's oldest form, during it's heretic burning slave owning days or at the modern day institutions. In which case I don't see the difference between that and mocking any other institution like the Government, the military or business (especially science).
In fact possibly the worst to my mind would be the Assassins Creed series which out and tells you that religion is wrong (especially in the ending of AC3).
Do let me know what you think though. As an atheist maybe I'm just not paying attention to it all that much.

Alright, I apologize if I'm a bit ranty in my reply but there's certainly more than just two games worth mentioning:

Oh yes, Assasin's Creed is probably one of the worst of the games, which is ironic because before the whole "religion is a lie" thing existed, believe it or not, it was one of the more ideal games for Christians, as it had a familiar setting, limited blood/gore, and wasn't set in the "darest we not touch upon it" modern day setting that some more conservative Christians seem afraid to even touch upon in books or novels.

Bayonetta is another bad one for Christians. It mainly is a mockery of Catholicism but it seems to generalize Catholicism as the only form of Christianity (as do unfortunately many, many other pieces of media that use Christianity as an 'influence), meanwhile people such as myself are -very- Protestant in our beliefs and put no weight in Purgatory or similar concepts that Caqtholics hold very dear. I get that it's supposed to be over the top and silly, and that's fine in my opinion. I don't like how it seems to casually treat Christianity as its plaything with which it can use the title without understanding the subject matter. I actually didn't complete it because it got to the point of "how much more BS am I going to hear/see that's missing the point before I get to the ending?" got a bit too frequent. I loved the combat and I even found some of the characters potentially interesting, but it would have been far more preferable if they'd just gone with the standard dark fantasy set up rather than using the general ideas of Christianity to wipe their crack with and then tossed them out as script notes. It's a sad day when Witchblade (based on my reading of the first volume) and Marvel's Runaways are more on target about even Catholicism than a game that's supposedly setting it's entire universe in a Dante's Inferno inspired tale.

Darksiders also gets a bit of ire but they at least sort of get closer to the main point, although they just make Heaven authoritarian (which is way off the board if you've ever read Mere Christianity) and Hell as chaotic. Essentially this makes God the prim and proper nerd with an attitude problem and Satan the volumptuous and bitchy party girl. Neither of them is actually better or worse, they're just both a bunch of tossers. Also it makes the Archangel Gabriel a murderous sociopath -- not the first thing to do that though, looking at you, 'Constantine'.

DmC is... eh, it's actually not as bad as most, at least the reboot isn't, but they still mess up the concept of Nephillim. They're supposed to be of a fallen angel (as in -- an angel no longer in God's service who's bound to earth. Think somewhere between Darksiders and that Nicholas Cage movie where he's an angel) and a woman. Not of a demon and and angel (who are both technically seraphim, it's just a matter of who they serve), not of a devil and a human, not of God and a human, but of a fallen angel and a human. It's not like they couldn't have worked with that.

El Shaddai -- First, guy from the dev team for this one who at Comic Con who called Christianity a "mythology" on national TV while talking about a game that you should be hoping would appeal to Christians. Yes, you. *Flicks forehead* You don't get to talk anymore. You just insulted one of the most underserved niches who would have eaten a genuine Christianity centric AAA game up like no tomorrow. You might think it's a myth, but that doesn't matter if you want your game to sell! If I had to make a game set in an atheist universe, you wouldn't be hearing me break out in the middle of a gameplay demonstration condemning the protagonist's actions as sinful -- that's not how you do things. And also, since this was made in part by the same guy who helped make Bayonetta -- dude what is your issue with trying to mess with Christian ideas and adding things that really just cross a line? Homo-eroticism was really necessary for your story? Really? It's like as if I were to make a game about Darwin studying animals, but then having him hump a woodpecker as a "funny mini-game" and having him look like a delusional madman who people just were mesmerized by and loved because he was entertaining. I'm not asking any game developer to have to ignore their views but take into consideration what you're saying with your work. I once was writing an episodic fanfic what-if series of Super-Man set during the 1930s, and I weighed my options before I made Green Lantern be the main antagonist due to his earlier incarnations having racist inclinations, and my blog only got at most around a thousand views. Your work gets seen by hundreds of thousands if not millions. If you think life is all just one big joke and you can do what you please and it doesn't matter, fine, but that still means I'm just as free to not like it.

And you know what's ironic? One of the best games I can think of for Christians is one you probably never would have thought of. Dead Space. Seriously. Isaac Clarke is a more Christianly protagonist than most, despite some cases of mental instability, especially if we're talking a Protestant protagonist due to his dealings with the church of Unitology (yes, for some Protestants, that's what Catholicism looks like. The Inquisitions didn't make very warm feelings between the two differing Christian paradigms). It's a series about a man fighting evil while just trying to save those around him, putting himself at risk and only killing other people when he has no choice. He's caring, he's got weaknesses, and it seems almost by sheer will and faith that he survives at times. There are even numerous references throughout the series that suggest sometimes both pro-Protestant and pro-Agnostic tones, especially if you look at the universe in a similar way to Shaw's religious defenses in Prometheus. There are story allegories, enemies representing certain sins potentially, certain tests of strength and will, moral dilemas and consequences... it all works surprisingly well. And I doubt Visceral ever intended it to be. But you know what, in the case of the church of Unitology, they got the cult mentality right. And I hope Rockstar does so too, because if you do it right, you make a great example of what goes wrong with such organizations.

I am not writing this to proclaim Christianity, I just want my religion to not be treated as a joke because some people don't believe it. I get that a majority of the people on this site are atheist, and you know what, I'm okay with that. You believe what you want to believe, but if someone is going to use something I believe in or something they claim is what I believe in in a game, comic, book, or movie -- they better be damn sure they get it right or I will totally call you on it. I would expect no less if atheism was misrepresented and any of you took upset towards it.

I'm really hoping that makes sense, and if not, I apologize, as I am tired at the time of this writing.

 

[Parakeettheprawn]

I really find it funny what they're doing here, but there's one thing that keeps worrying me -- there are people who are going to try to apply this to all religions, not just obviously dubious ones like Scientology. More demotivational low-jabs... great.

No, by all means, take a look at all religions. Sceptical thinking can be applied to everything. Besides, if an idea is so poorly constructed that it's threatened by the lightest scrutiny, then it shouldn't be supported.

A world where good ideas are favored over bad ones is highly motivational. Jab away!

I think you mistake my meaning. I am actually -very- critical of my religious faith in Christianity, and am always on the look out for ever being proven wrong with a logical argument, it's just a matter of the sheer overflowing excess of atheists that spew nothing but hateful memes and hurtful insults they call "humor". I'm not saying it has me wiping my tears in a corner either, frankly if anything it's just tiring and gets in the way of ever being able to respect some atheists due to what really sometimes feels like an adolescent overcompensation for their actual doubts/genuine belief in God (or gods), just that they hate Him(them) for some random reason.

 

[TrulyBritish]

Oh God, so many words to read at nearly 3 in the morning *sigh*

Sorry, I'm a bit tired so I can't really do your post justice. It doesn't help that I haven't played a lot of the games you've mentioned so I really am speaking from a position of ignorance.
I would be interested to know which games do you think are actually being critical of religion, and how many are actually just butchering the mythos or how it's used? It's like when you talked about DMC it wasn't about saying (it seems) much about God or the practicality of religion, but more using an established ideal for it's setting. I'd perhaps reckon it to the resurgence of Norse mythology in today culture (I think Too Human was supposed to be based on it?). It's not actually critical or philosophical, it's just a good/lazy starting point for a story.
Other than that there's a lot you say that bears thinking about, but maybe when I get some decent sleep

 

[TheMyffic]

I really find it funny what they're doing here, but there's one thing that keeps worrying me -- there are people who are going to try to apply this to all religions, not just obviously dubious ones like Scientology. More demotivational low-jabs... great.

No, by all means, take a look at all religions. Sceptical thinking can be applied to everything. Besides, if an idea is so poorly constructed that it's threatened by the lightest scrutiny, then it shouldn't be supported.

A world where good ideas are favored over bad ones is highly motivational. Jab away!

I think you mistake my meaning. I am actually -very- critical of my religious faith in Christianity, and am always on the look out for ever being proven wrong with a logical argument, it's just a matter of the sheer overflowing excess of atheists that spew nothing but hateful memes and hurtful insults they call "humor". I'm not saying it has me wiping my tears in a corner either, frankly if anything it's just tiring and gets in the way of ever being able to respect some atheists due to what really sometimes feels like an adolescent overcompensation for their actual doubts/genuine belief in God (or gods), just that they hate Him(them) for some random reason.

Your original statement is that only some religions are fair game for humor.

PS. 95% of the world is religious. I've never experienced "a sheer overflowing excess of atheists."

 

[Strazdas]

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer or anything here, or some sort of religious apologist, I'm just... well actually, yeah, I'm bit tired of how religion often gets treated with games. It rarely seems like even supposed "Religious" games made by people of a particular religion understand how to make it work right. I'm not saying there shouldn't be secular games or anything -- I'm fine with that, I just want equal treatment, which supposedly is supposed to exist despite the amount of religious bashing I've been seeing recently...

Sorry, sort of went off on a tangent there.

Its always fun when from a religion point of view it is totally okay to bash all nonbelievers all the time but whenever somone starts bashing back they start screaming "we are being oppressed we want equal treatment". Religion was bashing us for THOUSANDS OF YEARS, and now you cant take one or two games that return the favour?

 

[Groenteman]

~realy big snip~

It realy shouldnt suprise you as much that there arnt as many games with a 'faithful' depiction of your particular choice of religeon.

There are a LOT of different interpretation of just the bible out there, most of which disagree on eachother on several fundamental aspects. Then theres Muslims, Hindus, etc. all with their own sub-groups. A game made to appeal to protestant Christians may no do so well with Catholics, and likely worse with Muslims, while each one of those groups is likely much less offended by a game that ignores religeon altogether. (not to mention I would be suspicious of a game recommended by a jehova's witness)

Then theres the fact that Christinity for better or worse has seeped deep into western culture and history. Culture has a habit of constantly being changed and reinterpreted, and the bible is no exception.

Lastly a lot of the less-then-fond opinions about games come from people who are happen to be devoutly religious in some form or another. No this does not necessarily work the other way around, but in a lot of cases, it does.

In short, Christians are not a very attractive marktet to develop games for. Theres simply no way to do it without at least part of them biting you for getting God's beard wrong or something, and you will probabaly alienate other religeons and athiests as well.

 

[Parakeettheprawn]

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer or anything here, or some sort of religious apologist, I'm just... well actually, yeah, I'm bit tired of how religion often gets treated with games. It rarely seems like even supposed "Religious" games made by people of a particular religion understand how to make it work right. I'm not saying there shouldn't be secular games or anything -- I'm fine with that, I just want equal treatment, which supposedly is supposed to exist despite the amount of religious bashing I've been seeing recently...

Sorry, sort of went off on a tangent there.

Its always fun when from a religion point of view it is totally okay to bash all nonbelievers all the time but whenever somone starts bashing back they start screaming "we are being oppressed we want equal treatment". Religion was bashing us for THOUSANDS OF YEARS, and now you cant take one or two games that return the favour?

Oh, you want to compare being oppressed?

Spanish. Inquisition.

Bloody. Mary.

Spain. In. General.

Jesuites.

Protestants have been burned at the stake a lot more often than atheists, to my memory.

And you know what I find interesting. I never ever really felt like bashing atheism or any particular atheist. In fact I usually get along better with atheists than the stereotype conservative Christians. But assume that I think that my case is any more significant than, I don't know, the atheists who can't homeschool their children easily without using Christian curriculum since most homeschool curric' only caters to Christian homeschoolers? That really frigging sucks for them, but it gets treated as a non-issue because most homeschoolers are just fighting for their bloody right to do the practice in the first place. I actually think it's really unfair and wish we had a more balanced representation there -- I mean, hell, there are at least a few atheist books but I doubt you'll find homeschooling curric' for Hindus or Muslims. That's -not- a good thing.

You can come at me with "first world problem, lulz", you can come at me with the "wah! Atheism wasn't treated as nicely as it is now! (Nevermind it was actually popular in a good number of cultures, it just had more trouble during the reign of the Catholic Church as a super power)", but you will not find someone who is unaware of the fact that his problem is his and not necessarily yours.

You know what really comes to mind as a big thing you might want to consider next time you try to take a crack at responding to something like this -- if you want to actually outdo religion behave BETTER than those who represent it! NOT WORSE! "Oh, we felt we were treated badly, therefore we should be able to casually flip them off whenever we want" is not a good way to prove your point. You are not being bloody Django Unchained by posting a "God sucks" demotivational on the internet, and assuming you are is just pathetic. All you're doing is slinging mud in someone's eye, losing a potential supporter.

I was right there feeling bad for the people upset about Shiva's portrayal in Smite, even though as far as I'm considered she's just a drawing on a wall and/or a statue people crouch in front of spewing words that will come to naught. But for someone else, it matters, and if I was damn well going to be using her in a game, I'd make sure I got my material right rather than just go "meh, I don't believe in this ***** therefore I'll make her have five billion breasts and spew horrible dick joke one liners".

Equal representation is equal. You want to show the crusades as really just a bunch of greedy grabs for power by Europe? Be my guest, because that's entirely what they were. You want to show Darwin as just a guy with a theory, even admitting himself that it was probably flawed and would need re-examining -- go ahead. Both are the truth.

 

[Big_Boss_Mantis]

Got a strict no fotograph on the internet policy. I managed to stay off it up to now, ain't gonna put it up for a silly promo.

Don't you think it is a little paranoid? And that is coming from a guy who doesn't own an Facebook account.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the risk. But completely avoiding an jeopard that pretty much everyone in the world is submitted to is often paranoia.

It is like when there was that breach on PSN, everyone's account was hacked and all... People freaked out. I instantly tought "well, if MY account was stolen, I would freak out. Since EVERYONE'S information was stolen, then what the hell... I don't have that much money. My credit card is just one among millions. It is not MY problem. It is everyone's problem, to be solved by everyone.

I don't mean to critcize, really. Just food for thought.

 

[1337mokro]

Got a strict no fotograph on the internet policy. I managed to stay off it up to now, ain't gonna put it up for a silly promo.

Don't you think it is a little paranoid? And that is coming from a guy who doesn't own an Facebook account.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the risk. But completely avoiding an jeopard that pretty much everyone in the world is submitted to is often paranoia.

It is like when there was that breach on PSN, everyone's account was hacked and all... People freaked out. I instantly tought "well, if MY account was stolen, I would freak out. Since EVERYONE'S information was stolen, then what the hell... I don't have that much money. My credit card is just one among millions. It is not MY problem. It is everyone's problem, to be solved by everyone.

I don't mean to critcize, really. Just food for thought.

Not really. It's quite a weird argument as well that the masses do it so it must be okay. If that was true I wouldn't have gone on an anti religion rant

After all something like 80-90% of the world still believes in superstitious bullcrap and run the constant jeopardy of being swindled out of money or ending up in some deathcult. So it must be paranoia that I don't just fall to my knees and pray to the Panu the volcano god that promises you an island and your very own pig in the afterlife if you jump into his volcano before you die.

I just don't like having my photograph out there. Sure I'll use an avatar or two, but never an actual picture of myself. Has little to do with my fear of being hacked. I am sure that whatever credit card information and bank account pins I have are already stashed somewhere in China along with the most unflattering picture of me they could find in some government or educational institute.

I just don't want to upload it on the internet of my own accord. Especially when the reward is probably not that good and a secret.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer or anything here, or some sort of religious apologist, I'm just... well actually, yeah, I'm bit tired of how religion often gets treated with games. It rarely seems like even supposed "Religious" games made by people of a particular religion understand how to make it work right. I'm not saying there shouldn't be secular games or anything -- I'm fine with that, I just want equal treatment, which supposedly is supposed to exist despite the amount of religious bashing I've been seeing recently...

Sorry, sort of went off on a tangent there.

Its always fun when from a religion point of view it is totally okay to bash all nonbelievers all the time but whenever somone starts bashing back they start screaming "we are being oppressed we want equal treatment". Religion was bashing us for THOUSANDS OF YEARS, and now you cant take one or two games that return the favour?

Oh, you want to compare being oppressed?

Spanish. Inquisition.

Bloody. Mary.

Spain. In. General.

Jesuites.

Protestants have been burned at the stake a lot more often than atheists, to my memory.

And you know what I find interesting. I never ever really felt like bashing atheism or any particular atheist. In fact I usually get along better with atheists than the stereotype conservative Christians. But assume that I think that my case is any more significant than, I don't know, the atheists who can't homeschool their children easily without using Christian curriculum since most homeschool curric' only caters to Christian homeschoolers? That really frigging sucks for them, but it gets treated as a non-issue because most homeschoolers are just fighting for their bloody right to do the practice in the first place. I actually think it's really unfair and wish we had a more balanced representation there -- I mean, hell, there are at least a few atheist books but I doubt you'll find homeschooling curric' for Hindus or Muslims. That's -not- a good thing.

You can come at me with "first world problem, lulz", you can come at me with the "wah! Atheism wasn't treated as nicely as it is now! (Nevermind it was actually popular in a good number of cultures, it just had more trouble during the reign of the Catholic Church as a super power)", but you will not find someone who is unaware of the fact that his problem is his and not necessarily yours.

You know what really comes to mind as a big thing you might want to consider next time you try to take a crack at responding to something like this -- if you want to actually outdo religion behave BETTER than those who represent it! NOT WORSE! "Oh, we felt we were treated badly, therefore we should be able to casually flip them off whenever we want" is not a good way to prove your point. You are not being bloody Django Unchained by posting a "God sucks" demotivational on the internet, and assuming you are is just pathetic. All you're doing is slinging mud in someone's eye, losing a potential supporter.

I was right there feeling bad for the people upset about Shiva's portrayal in Smite, even though as far as I'm considered she's just a drawing on a wall and/or a statue people crouch in front of spewing words that will come to naught. But for someone else, it matters, and if I was damn well going to be using her in a game, I'd make sure I got my material right rather than just go "meh, I don't believe in this ***** therefore I'll make her have five billion breasts and spew horrible dick joke one liners".

Equal representation is equal. You want to show the crusades as really just a bunch of greedy grabs for power by Europe? Be my guest, because that's entirely what they were. You want to show Darwin as just a guy with a theory, even admitting himself that it was probably flawed and would need re-examining -- go ahead. Both are the truth.

I love it. You put up a neutral statement about religion as portrayed in games with the intent to (and indeed later, did) to start a discussion about the medium, therefore you are an atheist-bashing supporter of theocratic tyranny. For shame

Honestly, the thing about this forum that bothers me is how quickly any debate or discussion turns savage. It's as though no one is capable of disagreeing, only arguing until they "win." Not talking about you, Strazdas or Parakeettheprawn; just an aside.

 

[Parakeettheprawn]

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer or anything here, or some sort of religious apologist, I'm just... well actually, yeah, I'm bit tired of how religion often gets treated with games. It rarely seems like even supposed "Religious" games made by people of a particular religion understand how to make it work right. I'm not saying there shouldn't be secular games or anything -- I'm fine with that, I just want equal treatment, which supposedly is supposed to exist despite the amount of religious bashing I've been seeing recently...

Sorry, sort of went off on a tangent there.

Its always fun when from a religion point of view it is totally okay to bash all nonbelievers all the time but whenever somone starts bashing back they start screaming "we are being oppressed we want equal treatment". Religion was bashing us for THOUSANDS OF YEARS, and now you cant take one or two games that return the favour?

Oh, you want to compare being oppressed?

Spanish. Inquisition.

Bloody. Mary.

Spain. In. General.

Jesuites.

Protestants have been burned at the stake a lot more often than atheists, to my memory.

And you know what I find interesting. I never ever really felt like bashing atheism or any particular atheist. In fact I usually get along better with atheists than the stereotype conservative Christians. But assume that I think that my case is any more significant than, I don't know, the atheists who can't homeschool their children easily without using Christian curriculum since most homeschool curric' only caters to Christian homeschoolers? That really frigging sucks for them, but it gets treated as a non-issue because most homeschoolers are just fighting for their bloody right to do the practice in the first place. I actually think it's really unfair and wish we had a more balanced representation there -- I mean, hell, there are at least a few atheist books but I doubt you'll find homeschooling curric' for Hindus or Muslims. That's -not- a good thing.

You can come at me with "first world problem, lulz", you can come at me with the "wah! Atheism wasn't treated as nicely as it is now! (Nevermind it was actually popular in a good number of cultures, it just had more trouble during the reign of the Catholic Church as a super power)", but you will not find someone who is unaware of the fact that his problem is his and not necessarily yours.

You know what really comes to mind as a big thing you might want to consider next time you try to take a crack at responding to something like this -- if you want to actually outdo religion behave BETTER than those who represent it! NOT WORSE! "Oh, we felt we were treated badly, therefore we should be able to casually flip them off whenever we want" is not a good way to prove your point. You are not being bloody Django Unchained by posting a "God sucks" demotivational on the internet, and assuming you are is just pathetic. All you're doing is slinging mud in someone's eye, losing a potential supporter.

I was right there feeling bad for the people upset about Shiva's portrayal in Smite, even though as far as I'm considered she's just a drawing on a wall and/or a statue people crouch in front of spewing words that will come to naught. But for someone else, it matters, and if I was damn well going to be using her in a game, I'd make sure I got my material right rather than just go "meh, I don't believe in this ***** therefore I'll make her have five billion breasts and spew horrible dick joke one liners".

Equal representation is equal. You want to show the crusades as really just a bunch of greedy grabs for power by Europe? Be my guest, because that's entirely what they were. You want to show Darwin as just a guy with a theory, even admitting himself that it was probably flawed and would need re-examining -- go ahead. Both are the truth.

I love it. You put up a neutral statement about religion as portrayed in games with the intent to (and indeed later, did) to start a discussion about the medium, therefore you are an atheist-bashing supporter of theocratic tyranny. For shame

Honestly, the thing about this forum that bothers me is how quickly any debate or discussion turns savage. It's as though no one is capable of disagreeing, only arguing until they "win." Not talking about you, Strazdas or Parakeettheprawn; just an aside.

Yeah, about sums up what happens whenever I try to do that. Seriously the exact same thing on Game Informer. You would not believe the shit though on there that I got for trying to suggest a theory (purely speculation on my part) that Dead Space was actually set in a Christian universe, just one with Markers included. Now some of that, was just downright hilarious.

And the thing is, I have no bad blood with atheists. I mean yeah if they fall into this stereotype -- https://defendingcontending.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/atheist-hypocrisy.jpg -- I have a bit harder time believing their belief is genuine, but even then I don't hate them or anything I just would rather not have my faith be used as a whooping board.

 

[TheMyffic]

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer or anything here, or some sort of religious apologist, I'm just... well actually, yeah, I'm bit tired of how religion often gets treated with games. It rarely seems like even supposed "Religious" games made by people of a particular religion understand how to make it work right. I'm not saying there shouldn't be secular games or anything -- I'm fine with that, I just want equal treatment, which supposedly is supposed to exist despite the amount of religious bashing I've been seeing recently...

Sorry, sort of went off on a tangent there.

Its always fun when from a religion point of view it is totally okay to bash all nonbelievers all the time but whenever somone starts bashing back they start screaming "we are being oppressed we want equal treatment". Religion was bashing us for THOUSANDS OF YEARS, and now you cant take one or two games that return the favour?

Oh, you want to compare being oppressed?

Spanish. Inquisition.

Bloody. Mary.

Spain. In. General.

Jesuites.

Protestants have been burned at the stake a lot more often than atheists, to my memory.

And you know what I find interesting. I never ever really felt like bashing atheism or any particular atheist. In fact I usually get along better with atheists than the stereotype conservative Christians. But assume that I think that my case is any more significant than, I don't know, the atheists who can't homeschool their children easily without using Christian curriculum since most homeschool curric' only caters to Christian homeschoolers? That really frigging sucks for them, but it gets treated as a non-issue because most homeschoolers are just fighting for their bloody right to do the practice in the first place. I actually think it's really unfair and wish we had a more balanced representation there -- I mean, hell, there are at least a few atheist books but I doubt you'll find homeschooling curric' for Hindus or Muslims. That's -not- a good thing.

You can come at me with "first world problem, lulz", you can come at me with the "wah! Atheism wasn't treated as nicely as it is now! (Nevermind it was actually popular in a good number of cultures, it just had more trouble during the reign of the Catholic Church as a super power)", but you will not find someone who is unaware of the fact that his problem is his and not necessarily yours.

You know what really comes to mind as a big thing you might want to consider next time you try to take a crack at responding to something like this -- if you want to actually outdo religion behave BETTER than those who represent it! NOT WORSE! "Oh, we felt we were treated badly, therefore we should be able to casually flip them off whenever we want" is not a good way to prove your point. You are not being bloody Django Unchained by posting a "God sucks" demotivational on the internet, and assuming you are is just pathetic. All you're doing is slinging mud in someone's eye, losing a potential supporter.

I was right there feeling bad for the people upset about Shiva's portrayal in Smite, even though as far as I'm considered she's just a drawing on a wall and/or a statue people crouch in front of spewing words that will come to naught. But for someone else, it matters, and if I was damn well going to be using her in a game, I'd make sure I got my material right rather than just go "meh, I don't believe in this ***** therefore I'll make her have five billion breasts and spew horrible dick joke one liners".

Equal representation is equal. You want to show the crusades as really just a bunch of greedy grabs for power by Europe? Be my guest, because that's entirely what they were. You want to show Darwin as just a guy with a theory, even admitting himself that it was probably flawed and would need re-examining -- go ahead. Both are the truth.

I love it. You put up a neutral statement about religion as portrayed in games with the intent to (and indeed later, did) to start a discussion about the medium, therefore you are an atheist-bashing supporter of theocratic tyranny. For shame

Honestly, the thing about this forum that bothers me is how quickly any debate or discussion turns savage. It's as though no one is capable of disagreeing, only arguing until they "win." Not talking about you, Strazdas or Parakeettheprawn; just an aside.

Yeah, about sums up what happens whenever I try to do that. Seriously the exact same thing on Game Informer. You would not believe the shit though on there that I got for trying to suggest a theory (purely speculation on my part) that Dead Space was actually set in a Christian universe, just one with Markers included. Now some of that, was just downright hilarious.

And the thing is, I have no bad blood with atheists. I mean yeah if they fall into this stereotype -- https://defendingcontending.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/atheist-hypocrisy.jpg -- I have a bit harder time believing their belief is genuine, but even then I don't hate them or anything I just would rather not have my faith be used as a whooping board.

Adolescent humor = bad. Got it. But adolescent humor is ubiquitous. My concern is still with you finding the scientology spoof funny, but thinking that your religion should be off limits. All religions have something in common: taking what is, and then adding a supernatural explanation. The amount of logical steps may vary, but there's always a leap.

It's a bit strange to laugh at someone's belief in (aliens/gods/devils/angels/demons/souls/reincarnation) while clinging so adamantly to your own(aliens/gods/devils/angels/demons/souls/reincarnation.) But then, religion is full of silliness. Humor is just a very effective way of pointing that out.

 

[Parakeettheprawn]

Adolescent humor = bad. Got it. But adolescent humor is ubiquitous. My concern is still with you finding the scientology spoof funny, but thinking that your religion should be off limits. All religions have something in common: taking what is, and then adding a supernatural explanation. The amount of logical steps may vary, but there's always a leap.

It's a bit strange to laugh at someone's belief in (aliens/gods/devils/angels/demons/souls/reincarnation) while clinging so adamantly to your own(aliens/gods/devils/angels/demons/souls/reincarnation.) But then, religion is full of silliness. Humor is just a very effective way of pointing that out.

It is ubiquitous, and it has its place, but it's over extended its place more than I would like.

I'm not saying my religion is off limits -- I've made jokes about Christianity in my time, I've heard some genuinely funny ones even. But I didn't make them to degrade people, to talk down to them, or to insult them. A lot of the Atheists-bashing-Christianity humor I find is just made to be insensitive, rage-enducing, and hurtful. It's a taunt. It's a pathetic, coward's way of dealing with something they don't like -- and in some cases seems like an overcompensation to deal with a lack of either maturity or genuine belief in what they say they believe. It would be like me hearing in that one Escapist podcast about turning a Jesus fish into something from Star Trek, and then responding by making a demotivational of Darwin giving a particular crude sexual act to an animal and some badly worded attempt at a pun on natural selection. I'm not saying everyone does that, but that's what the predominant attitude of the internet is conveying -- and that's not a good thing for anyone involved. In particular, it makes Atheism just look hateful and angry and mad and... I know that Atheists aren't like that. It's like when I see ultra-conservative Republican leaders say that they represent all Christianity when they sure as hell don't represent me and many others like me. It's the same thing, just a different means of miscommunication.

Plus, as was evidenced earlier -- there is a knee jerk reaction just as strong when atheism comes under fire in what feels like an unfair light, but sometimes it'll come out even if there was no attack. This really is what it comes down to for me, in that it's apparently perfectly fine for a religion to be joked about as a childish waste of time but the second the joker's beliefs (be they atheist, Christian, Hindi, Muslim, etc.) are being joked about or even you potentially suggest the joke isn't funny, they immediately become defensive and closed off. I can take a good religious joke if done right *gestures to Monty Python and Mel Brooks*, just the same way that George Carlin had a Holocaust joke people actually liked. Does that make it a good joke for everyone? No! Oh my gosh no. But you can't not-offend someone with humor, that's the point, they're the butt of the joke. The difference is the joker's intentions, how they do it, and what the joke does. If you're just trying to make a light jab, or you have a genuine point that had thought more than five seconds put into it, okay then, I'm not gonna complain about that unless you're actually wrong or are just doing it to be a prick. We have enough pricks as is. Why else do you think we have so many reality TV shows?

So to bring it back to what you're suggesting -- is it wrong for me to find a scientology joke series of videos by Rockstar funny? Unfortunately, it's kind of subjective. I bet you some scientologists may have even laughed at this, aware or not that it was a parody of their belief. Frankly I don't feel proud of it, I never needed to laugh at scientology, and I certainly didn't go out of my way to jam it into their faces, I just was a casual observer and went "okay, I see what you're doing there". Same as to how I love Jim Sterling's stuff despite the fact that almost every religious joke he makes usually isn't exactly up to par with everything else he does.

My only point, the point I made at the very beginning here, is that I'm just tired of the hate. Humor is supposed to be funny, it's supposed to make you laugh, not make you sigh and think some fellow human being out there is an asshole who can't deal with the fact he believes in God(or gods) but also hates God(or gods) for some random reason that may or may not even be a valid argument, or inversely doesn't really follow the tenets of the belief he swears he does *glares at Gingrich*. It does no one any real good, and if anything, divides humanity further from just getting along.