Friday, September 07, 2007

The Pentagon Sends Messengers of Apocalypse to Convert Soldiers in Iraq

Excerpted from: Alternet
With the endorsement of the Defense Department, OSU is mailing "Freedom Packages" to soldiers serving in Iraq. These are not your grandfather's care packages, however. Besides pairs of white socks and boxes of baby wipes (included at the apparent suggestion of Iran-Contra felon Oliver North, according to OSU) OSU's care packages contain the controversial Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game. The game is inspired by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' bestselling pulp fiction series about a blood-soaked Battle of Armageddon pitting born-again Christians against anybody who does not adhere to their particular theology. In LaHaye's and Jenkins' books, the non-believers are ultimately condemned to "everlasting punishment" while the evangelicals are "raptured" up to heaven. Read article...


What separation of church and state? I'm going to go drink now...

Update: Apparently the netroots shut this plan down by exposing it enough so that ABC took notice. Still, you have to be concerned that our government is willfully endorsing video games like this to be sent to our troops:

2 comments:

Jay McHue said...

Actually, the nutroots lied about the game to "shut this plan down." They claimed the game promotes "convert or kill" violence, which it absolutely does not. Quite the contrary, the game promotes peaceful solutions even in the face of armed, hostile adversaries. Everyone who has made this claim about the game has not played the game, cannot point out exactly where in the game the "convert or kill" violence is promoted, and most are simply mindlessly parroting what they've heard elsewhere.

Jay McHue said...

Oh, and the Pentagon wasn't distributing this game. An organization that partnered with them included copies of the game in care packages for the troops. These care packages still contain Bibles. I don't see you complaining about that.