Shooting video game guns for Jesus (SVGGFJ)

I remember when churches used to encourage young men to take up arms for the cross, telling them to raze faraway towns because their people prayed to a different man in the sky than they did. Now churches have to haul out Halo 3 just to get Johnny Runnynose to show up on Wednesday evenings. Yup, the Times sent a guy to the middle of nowhere to report on a trend that’s sweeping the nation: using the violent video game to lure teenage boys into churches. The idea is that once you’ve got them inside the church doors shooting each other, it’s easy to teach them about religious stuff. You know, honor they mother and they father, thou shall not kill, thou shall not participate in message board flame wars, etc.

I don’t know, it’s a fairly interesting read, with some church higher ups freaking out at the thought of using violence to reach kids. Others are all, “Look, how else are we gonna attract kids? Bite me.”

Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church [New York Times via bit-tech.net]