Religious Leaders Lash Out Against Modern Warfare 2

Thought the Modern Warfare 2 news cycle was finally over, didn’t you? It’s still got legs thanks to a few U.K. religious leaders, who are predictably slamming the game’s controversial airport scene in the name of saving the children and society as a whole. “In the Holy scriptures, when Cain kills Abel, God asks him one question: Are you your brother’s keeper? The rest of the bible is an answer to that – and it’s a big yes. When I play this game I don’t get that answer – I get upset,” London Jewish Forum chief executive Alex Goldberg said on BBC One yesterday. More delightfully ironic hand-wringing after the jump.

“A lot of people make the excuse that this is sport – that it’s just entertainment,” said Fazan Mohammed of the British Muslim Forum. “But Joseph Goebbels – the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany – said his entertainment did more for the German people, in terms of creating the psyche for war and hostility towards others, than the speeches of Adolf Hitler.”

And here’s Rt. Reverend Stephen Low, retired Bishop of Hulme and self-professed World of Warcraft fan: ”If you are in that role, which is a terrorist in a game killing other people with massive violence coming back at you on the screen, and [you’re getting a] thrill from that, I think that’s actually sick. We need to sort that out.”

I’ve heard arguments for and against the airport scene, but these gut-checks from religious leaders, all of which rely on straw men (these games are undeniably played by children, games are strictly entertainment and nothing more, games are worse than other media because they’re interactive), do not advance the debate. They only create fear, which I guess is to be expected. [via MCV]