Winning Souls In World Of Warcraft

Steve Rock writes "Many of us have heard about the various ways in which real life and massively-multiplayer role playing games intersect, which usually involves the exchange of in-game characters or items for real life money. Well apparently religion is spilling over into World of Warcraft." From the article: "We meet under the docks in Booty Bay for a bible study every Tuesday night."

Comments

Also from the article

[McKinney83]

"I doubt any of them play sports so you can pretty much guess that there are lots of gay boys and fat little pale-faced Wiccan girls on the servers who hate themselves and escape into virtual characters so they don't have to deal with their pathetic lives."

Re:Also from the article

[Jorkapp]

They left out the fact that those gay boys and fat little pale-faced wiccan girls have credit cards (or at least a job to buy prepaid cards).

I highly doubt those described characters would want to piss away $20/mo (or whatever it is) to escape their pathetic lives in a video game. More than likely, they would escape their lives in something like Counter-Strike Source for a one-time cost, or simply use Alcohol (if they're of age), or just spend the $400 on a gun.

Funny, but...

[tyoob]

Everything on landoverbaptist.org is crap, of course. I'd hate to think anyone's going to take this seriously.

Re:Funny, but...

[Dachannien]

Yeah, it's kind of like The Onion. Except it's lame.

Re:Funny, but...

[Lehk228]

new slogan, landoverbaptist: like the onion but with 70% more ghey

I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[bartkusa]

...I mean, it is, isn't it?

Please?

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[KinkifyTheNation]

Yes, it is. I'm surprised the editors didn't catch this.

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

No I'm sure they caught it, they just like to do the April fools jokes when you least expect them, more effective that way.

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[KinkifyTheNation]

You mean like when it's not April?

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[Ayaress]

Yes, it is. The other day, when the Tsunami fish story got up, I submitted this exact same story just to see if it would go through (although I included the site's "free PS2" giveaway page as a sort of tip-off that it was fake for the industrious reader). I was actually relieved an hour later when I saw the "Rejected" tag on the submission. I guess I shouldn't have been quite so relieved, since they only rejected me because somebody else had already submitted the story.

Just look around the site, and it'll eventually become very clear the site is satire. Though, I should point out that my local news paper (which has as much journalistic integrity as the Sun) referenced it's christmas "evil toy" list, and also a particular (very loud) Baptist priest in my city supposedly uses it to prepare his sermons. I suppose that makes it either good or bad satire, since it can be hard at first glance to tell wether or not it's for real.

On a related note, this sort of thing does actually happen. A couple years back in Dransik, there was a player known as Bob the Warrior. He dedicated half his in-game time to saving people's souls, wether they needed it, wanted it, or not, and the other half to trying to convince rich players to give him Rune armor before it corrupted their souls. He never accomplished either, but he did manage to become one of the most hated people in the game to that point outside the guilds FU and AoS.

He was even more obnoxious than the ficticious guy in this story, to the point that he couldn't even leave town without being followed by somebody who he'd angered with the intent of killing him. My guild at the time was a neutral trading guild and generally avoided the major guild wars, but even we listed him as KOS.

He eventually accused me of persecuting him for his faith, demanding that me, all my guild mate and everybody we've associated with be permanantly banned and all their items given to him (with such a small game, this effectively amounts to 90% of the server population) and when the facts of the matter came to light (chat logs, screenshots, etc), he ended up with an IP ban and was never heard from again.

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly, that April fool's occurs in April is what they want you to think.

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[wodon]

I'm so relieved.
I started reading this and was laughing my head off, then I panicked and wasnt sure.
Ive heard that there are some americans who take religion very seriously but surely that couldnt be this bad!
It could jsut about have been real

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[Schemat1c]

Ive heard that there are some americans who take religion very seriously but surely that couldnt be this bad!

In my early 20's I got a case of what a friend of mine likes to call AOC(Adult Onset Christianity). And speaking as a former victim of this horrible mind virus I can say that they can very well be this bad and much, much worse.

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[Anonymous Coward]

America is a God fearing nation of Godless people.

If there *is* a Hell then I expect almost all Americans will end up there. Their blatant disregard for human life in the pursuit of the all-powerful dollar is appalling. And they are so blinded by ignorance and propaganda that they can't even see it!

A morally corrupt puritan state being a world power is scary shit.

Re:I thought Landover Baptist was satire, right?

[Wtcher]

Does anybody else get bothered by the phrase "god-fearing"? I mean really, you should love your god.

Not that I subscribe to any religion, but why would you follow some superior being that you fear over all-else?

Congratulations

[Anonymous Coward]

Congratulations, you've managed to post a troll site on Slashdot.

If you look at the content on this site, it's either obviously fake or belongs to a cult, none of what they have posted is even remotely close to any church I've ever been to.

I suggest deleting this story and forgetting someone ever submitted it.

Re:Congratulations

[Attaturk]

I suggest deleting this story and forgetting someone ever submitted it.

That's funny. Whenever I accuse the church of adopting that strategy I get in trouble. ;-)

Re:Congratulations

[Entropius]

"[N]one of what they have posted is even remotely close to any church I've ever been to."

You've not been to Alabama, have you?

Re:Congratulations

[Temporal]

Congratulations, you totally missed the fact that this story is tagged "humor".

Re:Congratulations

[ikkonoishi]

Why does Alabama get all the playa hate?

Re:Congratulations

[Anonymous Coward]

Congratulations, it's not marked that way on slashdot, on slashdot it shows up as 'Role-Playing Games'. So back off.

Re:Congratulations

[buffer-overflowed]

Because it's easier to spell than Mississippi or Missouri. That still doesn't explain why it's more mocked than Georgia however.

Re:Congratulations

[Anonymous Coward]

Finally, a question that is its own answer.

Re:Congratulations

[Entropius]

Alabama gets more hate from me 'cause I live here. Huntsville isn't so bad, but once you get out, it gets pretty bad.

Georgia, however, is worse. People in Alabama are sort of passive rednecks--Georgian rednecks are the more active variety.

Re:Congratulations

[DarkFencer]

Actually it is marked that way on slashdot, but not overtly. The 'Foot' icon that is shown (below the FF2 icon for rpg) is for humor. Its a Monty Python thing.

Re:Congratulations

[Anonymous Coward]

No, I'd file "playa hate" clearly in the So Cal/ inner city column, clearly not southern red neck, in fact I'd go so far as to say that the sort of person you'd find saying "playa hate" would be dispised by you're average Alabma red neck.

Re:Congratulations

[Anonymous Coward]

You certainly haven't.

Hilarious

[rogueuk]

That whole web site is hilarious. Apparently not too many people realize it's a joke..as seen here

Re:Hilarious

[Anonymous Coward]

And for the knee-jerk crowd, the site you link to is also a joke, run by the same people.

Re:Hilarious

[Jimmy The Leper]

Wait, that jesussave.us website isn't also a joke? Unless it's two satire websites calling blasphemy on eachother to create more satire...

Re:Hilarious

[Anonymous Coward]

It's one company (Americhrist), making two supposedly Christian web sites, one of which wants the other one taken down.

Re:Hilarious

[rogueuk]

You guys are quicker than I thought ;-) I wasn't sure if anyone would figure that out

Re:Hilarious

[malakai]

Look at the ad on the bottom of that JesusSave.us site: http://www.preparingdaughters.com/
"PreparingDaughters.com, Dedidcated to building up Godly young ladies. *Now With Recipes!*"

Jesus H. Christ, they're cooking their children! These sickos must be stopped.

Re:Hilarious

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Yes, it's about equivalent to the Hydrogen Hydroxide anti-anti-DHMO page.

Re:Hilarious

[hoggoth]

That web site is an abomination! It should be banned! Hydrogen Monoxide has killed over 100,000 people THIS YEAR ALONE.

It should be banned, plain and simple. It is too dangerous in the hands of untrained laypeople.

Re:Hilarious

[dougmc]

Hydrogen Monoxide has killed over 100,000 people THIS YEAR ALONE.

Hydrogen monoxide? You mean dihydrogen monoxide, also known as hydrogen hydroxide?

I believe the death toll you're referring to is over 200,000 people now, but it can't be purely blamed on DHMO -- large amounts of monosodium chloride was also found on the deceased, for example.

Also, when you say `this year alone', you should be more specific. You mean in the `previous 365 days', right? Not `2005 so far' ...

Re:Hilarious

[Solder Fumes]

No, it's not hilarious, it's actually pretty lame. The kind of stuff that was too dumb to make it into a college newspaper.

Re:Hilarious

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, most slashbots considered it legit because it was everything like those evil Bush supporting religious wackos that they like to blame things on.

What easy trolling fodder religion is, just take a look at those in this story that fell for this.

This guy calls himself a Christian?

[Anonymous Coward]

From the article -

"I have a hot-key macro that broadcasts, Jesus Loves You! Please Love Him Back or He Will Burn You in Hell! PM Me if you want to learn more! across four channels. I do it right when I log in. I usually get PM'd (Private Messaged) by a few characters who I then add to my buddy list. I follow them around the game, across snow-capped mountains, and blasted wastelands until they accept Christ or persecute me so much that I have to report them to the server administrators for making fun of my religion. I think I've been responsible for getting over thirty accounts suspended for bigotry directed at me because of my faith."

What an asshole.

Re:This guy calls himself a Christian?

[RogueOne]

For alone this I am tempted to go out and buy WoW, create myself a wholy evil tank character, spend countless hours leveling him up and building an army of darkness consisting of "gay boys and fat little pale-faced Wiccan girls" to crush the oppressive light of the Christan facist!

Re:This guy calls himself a Christian?

[DragonPup]

Well, Booty Bay *is* in Stranglethorn Vale, a contested(PvP) zone. So, you know, you could...

For added fun, level priests up to Mind Control them to attack each other.

Re:This guy calls himself a Christian?

[Anonymous Coward]

While buying WoW is a great idea, because it's a really cool game, you may want to turn on your satire detector before you get too worked up about these guys.

Re:This guy calls himself a Christian?

[Attaturk]

What we want is MMORPG where the Christian meetings have to be held in secret for fear of all the attendees getting crucified and/or thrown to the lions. Oh wait, there already is one and it's in my sig! ;-)

Re:This guy calls himself a Christian?

[Anonymous Coward]

So one set in Berkley, Ca?

LOL

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

Great troll, and slashdot fell for it. I actually believed the website until I came to this line: "I have a hot-key macro that broadcasts, Jesus Loves You! Please Love Him Back or He Will Burn You in Hell! PM Me if you want to learn more!

Of course, to recognize the troll, it helps to have been a fundimentalist Christian in one of your past lives...

Re:LOL

[Ayaress]

I'm not sure if the Baptists in Saginaw are a breed apart or not, but that sort of speech isn't that unusual at all. The only way I can distinguish this site from any of the pamphlets that gets stuffed in my door jam every Sunday morning is the free PS2 giveaway in the sidebar and the WWJD thongs.

Re:LOL

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot did not fall for it. See the foot icon at the top of this page? That's the "It's funny. Laugh" icon for Humourous stories.

Does this mean you fell for Slashdot's troll?

In other news from the site...

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

Sign your kid up for Vacation Bible Gun Camp

Please tell me that people know this is satire

[Meiyo Neko]

If one were to actually take a glance at the Terms of Service Agreement they would have noticed, "The Landover Baptist Church is a complete work of fiction. It is a satire/parody."

Re:Please tell me that people know this is satire

[Anonymous Coward]

Additionally, one would reach the same conclusion by using just a tiny bit of critical thinking skills on, oh, just about anything posted on the entire site.

Re:Please tell me that people know this is satire

[mattgreen]

That is asking an awful lot of the Slashdot readership, however.

Re:Please tell me that people know this is satire

[wdr1]

Or, apparently, the editors...

Re:Please tell me that people know this is satire

[inkless1]

It took me a few seconds to realize it. The ads help.

Umm, humour?

[mrpuffypants]

I really hope that everybody realizes this story is a hoax...

Landover Baptist is the same 'church' that sells Jesus thongs and other terribly funny stuff.

The same guys that run Landover Baptist also do WhiteHouse.org

Re:Umm, humour?

[DaViking]

First the Bizarre Deep Sea Fish story and now this one. What's /. coming to? Now, where's the story about a three headed monkey sighting...

Re:Umm, humour?

[bladesjester]

I'm glad they posted it. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. This site is hilarious heheheh

Re:Umm, humour?

[rmccann]

They also promise a free PlayStation 2 if you accept Jesus as your saviour.

"If you've never heard of Jesus, He is an invisible cloud-dwelling deity (infinite lives!) who loves you very much and wants nothing more than to give you a free PlayStation 2!"

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0104/ps2.html

it's fake

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, it's fake, but I still have to talk about it today on the ChatterBox Video Game Radio show.

Talk about it right now if you want at http://www.chatterboxgameshow.com

Re:it's fake

[Anonymous Coward]

They should invent a (-1, blatant self-promotion) mod, just for you.

Satire or not...

[deemaunik]

I was pretty pissed off as I was reading this. Something in me called bullshit when the derogatory terms were used, but I wouldn't put it past some people; I've met individuals so mislead that they pulled the same kind of shit around me. Still, if that was a joke, I'm not laughing.

Re:Satire or not...

[Ayaress]

It's a joke on a particular facet of the Christian community. Your in the same boat I am on it: There are so many people who actually act like that that it's not immediately clear wether or not it's a joke.

Re:Satire or not...

[obsid1an]

There are so many people who actually act like that that it's not immediately clear wether or not it's a joke.

And that is what makes it so good. It makes it so clear to see how dumb many of the beliefs of fundamentalist christians are.

It's a start

[clux]

Now imagine if we'd be able to gather all religious hypocrites in one game, give them an interactive bible and call it Heaven Online. Jeremiah 13:37.. Thou shalt not bother others with your twisted beliefs! "hm, is this right?"

Re:It's a start

[DeeFresh]

Maybe this is what you're looking for: Holy Land MMORPG.

The ultimate goal of the mmorpg is to help rebuild the Temple Mount (in real life) and bring about the apocalypse.

From the article:
"Players navigate the narrow streets and bustling marketplaces trying to uncover and decipher Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scriptural clues relating to the end-times. They can choose to kill each other, but they won't be able to move to the next level if they do. The goal is to unlock the secret that will induce the coming of a messiah - whether players believe he will turn out to be the Christian Jesus, the Jewish Moshiach, or the Muslim Mahdi."

Re:It's a start

[clux]

hahaha thats really freaky, thanks.

Gotta love the adverts..

[euxneks]

I saw this on an advertisement in the article:

WWJD Thongs

Absolutely Classic.

Landover Baptist is a joke, but not ToJ...

[Kevin143]

There really is a WoW Christian Guild, named God's Peons. They are a chapter of the Tribe of Judah.

The best part of the ToJ webpage is the FAQ about why Mormon's can't join the Tribe.

Re:Landover Baptist is a joke, but not ToJ...

[roastedMnM]

Maybe I missed something, but the FAQ answer on the rejection of Mormonism as a christian denomination seems to make sense. The author seems to point out why this group does not think Mormons are christians or believe correct stuff. roasted

Re:Landover Baptist is a joke, but not ToJ...

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an elaborate troll targetting Mormons.

Conventional christanity does believe that Mormonism==Heresy but argument is much simplier (the existance of the Book of Mormon).

Re:Landover Baptist is a joke, but not ToJ...

[theantix]

That's delicious! A *Christian* arguing that *another religious group* has no evidence to support their outrageous claims and that the text is self-contradictory. Pot, meet kettle... kettle, say hello to my good friend pot. And while we're at it... someone call Alanis Morisette, because it sounds to that it's like rain on your wedding day, don't you think?

Re:Landover Baptist is a joke, but not ToJ...

[Ayaress]

Correction: A Christian group saying that about another Christian group, not just another religious group.

Was believing it until...

[Satertek]

He's done conversion duels on multiple servers where he challenges other players to duel with him. If he wins, they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If he loses (which he never has) he will give them 6 pieces of silver."

"It is such a rush to kill other players who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as Lord," says one gamer. "I feel like I can really practice my faith the way God intended it. It is like I'm fighting alongside Christians of old, instead of the pansies and sissies from my Sunday school class."

You cannot force beliefs onto other people. Sadly, it looks like a joke to me. I got kinda excited when I read the summary on /.

Re:Was believing it until...

[Skazka]

Yeah, reminds me of the Crusades...or the Spanish Inquisition. (Bet you didn't expect it in WoW, eh?) Look how much more civilized the article says mankind's zealots have become -- instead of really killing each other for having different beliefs, now they have progressed to the point where they just do it virtually!

as stated already

[ptrangerv8]

why was this even posted?

normally I don't bitch about the stories posted on /. but c'mon - this is a well known satirical site....

I almost bought it untill I saw the link..

Yay! Slashdot posts anti-Christian propaganda

[Anonymous Coward]

The author of the linked site is an atheist, and is scheduled to speak as a humour segment at atheist gatherings.

The objective of his "speeches" is to ridicule right-Christians. The objective of his website is to troll right-Christians and to create a strawman for non right-Christians.

The objective is to incite hatred and ridicule of Christianity by trolling to invoke an emotional response against Christianity. This is an effective strategy, because even though the reader later discovers the article to be a farse, he or she nonetheless has genuinely felt hatred and disgust toward what he or she takes to legitimately be right-Christianity.

Was this an accident, or should we now assume that Slashdot takes an editorial stance of permitting the open ridicule and trolling of Christianity?

This is never acceptable, and if an apology is not issued, I will not extend my subscription.

Re:Yay! Slashdot posts anti-Christian propaganda

[Anonymous Coward]

"...basically reinforcing negative stereotypes for those who might already look at another group with wary eyes"

No, you idiot. This article is SATIRIZING people who hold those stereotypes! It's doing the opposite of reinforcing them. I guess you're too preoccupied with being offended to even know WTF you're talking about.

Re:There's four types of people

[Anonymous Coward]

he God to me = he spoke to me.

Sorry typo.

Is Zonk becoming the new Micheal?

[Anonymous Coward]

What a tard.

I'm eagerly waiting for new reputable news sources

[Fizzl]

Next Slashdot will accept WWN submissions too?

(For the uninitiated, google for weekly world news)

the best part of this

[Anonymous Coward]

the best part of this is how all the /. christians take this opportunity to tell us how un-funny all this is. hits a little close to home eh?

my advice - try to take yourself a little less seriously folks. just because somebody is picking on your choice of imaginary friends is no reason to ignite a flamewar here on slashdot.

oh wait, yeah it is. flame on, children of jesus! your gullibility shall know no end!

Re:the best part of this

[Anonymous Coward]

To be clear, the author of landoverbaptist is active in atheist communities, performs as a humour bit at atheist conventions, and intends his website to promote the ridicule of Christianity.

Whether satire should be considered socially acceptable depends in large part on the intention of its creators.

If an anti-semite were to create satire portraying jews as being greedy and having distinctive facial features, we would not consider this acceptable.

I would venture to say that under no circumstances should we consider satire portraying stereotypes of jews as acceptable, but clearly it is far worse for an anti-semite to do this than it is for South Park to do it for sheer absurdity.

The author if the linked site is actively anti-Christian, is active in anti-Christian circles, and intends his satire to be mean-spirited.

I think you need to take yourself, and your fellow human beings, MORE seriously.

Re:the best part of this

[Anonymous Coward]

This is exactly what freedom of speech means. Don't knock it; it comes from the same place where we get freedom of religion. If our faith is what we claim it to be, surely we can withstand this kind of ridicule, can't we? And surely we can respond to this with an intelligent defense of our faith, rather than complaining about a lack of respect, right?

Re:the best part of this

[Anonymous Coward]

Whereas it's obviously socially acceptable for Christians to condemn non-believers to an eternity of pain and suffering in the sulphur filled pits of hell.

Re:the best part of this

[ezeri]

It would be alot more funny if so many people didn't think it was real. It's difficult to discuss issues with people when they're views of your religion come from sources that are not real at all. If they would put a large banner on there site that said, NOT REAL, it could be considered a joke, but as it is now, the purpose is not humor, but to riddicule christianity, and leave a poor impresion of it on those who don't realize that it is fake.

Re:There's four types of people

[Anonymous Coward]

You're exactly the reason we love hassling you fuckers.

I love it when Landover gets a multi-bite.

Hard to take them seriously

[panzerjedi]

I find it hard to take them seriously when they start out by insulting the people who play the game, referring to us as lonely low lifes that are either gay or fat. My they have an open mind. I also like how they admit to spamming the general chat with their message of "God".

It's also hard to take them seriously when there is an ad on the bottom of he page for a thong that says "What would Jesus do?".

Re:Hard to take them seriously

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh go on, you want to believe.

Time for a can of whoop ass

[Bruha]

" Billy has what gamers call, a Level 57 Undead Priest with Holy Focus. "I'm also in one of the largest Christian guilds on our server," he says. "I think the reason so many people are open to hearing about Jesus in the World of Warcraft is because the majority of people who play the game are lonely kids who don't have any friends. I doubt any of them play sports so you can pretty much guess that there are lots of gay boys and fat little pale-faced Wiccan girls on the servers who hate themselves and escape into virtual characters so they don't have to deal with their pathetic lives. When they hear that someone loves them, even if it is just the Lord Jesus Christ, they always want to hear more!""

I'd love to see this jackass. I mean I spent 5 years of basically hell in the military protecting his damn free speech rights and whatnot and just to hear someone like this who claims to be a Christian spew forth crap like that just plain pisses me off.

I think he needs to be eyeing his purity a little closer than saying were a bunch of moon faced wiccan fags with no friends.

Re:Time for a can of whoop ass

[Bruha]

Okay sure it's a fake site..

But there are asses in the world like the guy they make out in the story. You have to look no further the white house.

Re:Time for a can of whoop ass

[Anonymous Coward]

saying were a bunch of moon faced wiccan fags with no friends.

Well, aren't you?

Re:Time for a can of whoop ass

[SydneyAgent20]

Mate you mention people sterotyping about others yet you yourself stereotype when you claim that majority of people are fat lazy and friendless losers. I myself is a professional soccer players and have great social life yet also enjoy playing these kind of games in my spare time.To be honest i dont understand why we have to get religion involved in games as many people may get offended from this and it really stops being a game when religion is involved. So in my opinion DO NOT involve religion in games as this may offend a lot of people as it will also create many discussions and issues regarding why certain religions are included and others arent and etc...

Re:Time for a can of whoop ass

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean no farther than this White House? :)

Re:Time for a can of whoop ass

[geminidomino]

Mate you mention people sterotyping about others yet you yourself stereotype when you claim that majority of people are fat lazy and friendless losers.

Err. GP didn't say anything of the sort. He was quoting the FA.

Re:Time for a can of whoop ass

[Anonymous Coward]

I spent 5 years of basically hell in the military protecting his damn free speech rights...

...spew forth crap like that just plain pisses me off./i>

Yeah! So tell him to shut it!

Re:Time for a can of whoop ass

[Anonymous Coward]

Out of curiousity, could you tell me who was threatening my free speech
rights for 5 years and just how they were doing it?

Re:Time for a can of whoop ass

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny isn't it?

What he really did was spend five years protecting the Military Industrial complex's
rights to increased profits, so they can buy more politicians and reduce the freedoms of the people.

American soldiers are sooooo dumb!

What Great Schism?

[leonbrooks]

Good point. (-:

Yay! Anti-Christian propaganda

[Anonymous Coward]

The author of the linked site is an atheist, and is commonlu scheduled to speak as a humour segment at atheist gatherings.

The objective of his "speeches" is to ridicule right-Christians. The objective of his website is to troll right-Christians and to create a strawman for non right-Christians.

The objective is to incite hatred and ridicule of Christianity by trolling to invoke an emotional response against Christianity. This is an effective strategy, because even though the reader later discovers the article to be a farse, he or she nonetheless has genuinely felt hatred and disgust toward what he or she takes to legitimately be right-Christianity.

Article should be removed...

[Nogeel]

Mods This article really should be removed. If it were anything other than an attack on religMods, This article really should be removed. If it were anything other than an attack on religion I'd keep my mouth shut, but it is a fake story on an anti-Christian site. Not news which as the slogan says news for nerds.

What annoys me more is just how easily people like to pin this type of ignorance on Christians. Do some people really act like this? Unfortunately yes. Does this mean all do. Goodness no. This is just another use of stereotypes, but is just accepted cause it is the in thing to do. This is like my experience of being an American in England. It is just acceptable to make fun of America and Americans.

Flame me on any of the statements above you want. Sure there are plenty that will want to target me for them. And yes I am a Christian.

Re:Article should be removed...

[Anonymous Coward]

Then turn the other cheek. So many people proclaiming themselves Christian, why not read the book, just once?

Re:Article should be removed...

[Anonymous Coward]

American *and* Christian? in England? You must be unpopular!

Re:Article should be removed...

[Anonymous Coward]

What annoys me more is just how easily people like to pin this type of ignorance on Christians. Do some people really act like this? Unfortunately yes.

This really drives me up the wall. If Christianity is gaining a stereotype for idiots, people who want to be free from thinking, Americans who hate democracy and want a theocracy, people who reject science, outright bigots, and general faith-based foolishness, it's because many Christians are working night and day to achieve that stereotype. They act in these terrible ways and then say that it's good Christian behaviour. You cannot blame the satirists when members of your own groups are solely responsible. You cannot stand up and complain about Christians having a reputation for homophobia if you've been silent when actual Christians have preached the "virtues" of homophobia in the name of Christianity.

And with regards to making fun of America, have you ever considered the fact that there is a great deal to make fun of here? Our hopelessly corrupt politicians; our use of the Imperial measuring system; the fact that millions of people here are cripplingly ignorant when it comes to evolution, but still act as though they were smarter than the actual scientists who study biology; all of these are worthy targets of derision. Frankly, you put me in mind of those Republicans whose only response to valid criticism is to act as though the critic mindlessly hates America and whose "unpatriotic" ideas shouldn't be tolerated.

So naturally, you were modded up.

But if it were true...

[L0k11]

I'd be organising a weekly Raid on Booty Bay

Re:But if it were true...

[Cais]

Too late.. that place is constantly being raided by the horde =(.

Neutral city my ass.

Re:I'm eagerly waiting for new reputable news sour

[SlackBastardNetworks]

Onion! I want to see /. reporting on Onion stories next. :) As an aside, this bit: "All the money I make from selling occult items to unsaved gamers, I auction off on E-bay for real cash...", if any of this were true (which it isn't), would be a violation of Bnet TOS and would get little Billy's account suspended post-haste. Heh.

I'll get modded down for this...

[Wyatt Earp]

But, this is exactly why I won't pay for /. Crap editing, dups and crap submissions. This is /. not Fark. If we are going this far with /, where are the Boobies links?

Re:I'll get modded down for this...

[KevinKnSC]

Agreed, this article made the decision of whether or not to renew my subscription really easy.

Re:I'll get modded down for this...

[PygmySurfer]

If we are going this far with /, where are the Boobies links?

I'd join for boobie links.

Re:I'll get modded down for this...

[inkless1]

I'd mod you up I had any points. But I don't. /.'s level of quality is simply laughable sometimes.

Longest running satire on the web

[Torvo]

Landover Baptist has been sticking it to the conservative Christians for years. It has some of the best ongoing gags and indepth satire on the internet. I'm surprised any thinking person would consider the articles on their site seriously.

I was fished in.

[Tofino]

I was fished in big time by this article. I didn't notice the landoverbaptist URL. I read the first paragraph and went, er, OK, an undead priest, sure. It was 2/3 of the way through before I stopped chuckling and went "oh, er, joke on me." :|

Pfff

[JasdonLe]

Wait, this is from Landover Baptist? That's like the Christian version of the Onion. This is pathetic, who posted this as real? Get a clue, man.

The MOST insulting part is...

[Anonymous Coward]

As a Christian Warcraft gamer, the MOST insulting part of the article is how wrong it portrays World of Warcraft! Please, at least get your facts right about the game!

No level 60 player would cross the street for 6 silver. Nobody calls them "PMs" in WoW. Undead priests can't auction off items in the _Dwarven_ city of Ironforge...

I mean, come on! I'm insulted!

Very Un-Christian Behaviour

[queenb**ch]

If you don't agree to accept their religion, they use their character to kill yours. Hmmm...that seems to violate both the old and new testament. Old Testament - Thou shalt not kill.
New Testament - Love thy neighbor as thy self.

They protest about being stereo typed but they offer up a pretty grim stereo type of gamers that isn't even accurate. Stastically speaking, the average gamer is 23 year old male with a life who likes to game to blow off steam.

I personally like to game. I scuba, rollerblade, and ride horses when I'm not gaming, so I'd say that the no sports thing is probably a wash too.

Then they actually brag about following people around to annoy them in to converting or staging "conversion duels". Frankly, if they are free to express their religion, I'm free to express mine.

BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP ME NOW, PUNY MORTAL!!!!

Re:Very Un-Christian Behaviour

[ezeri]

Once again, just so we can have this from the top:

THIS IS NOT REAL

This is just another trolling article from landoverbaptist.org, a site that is very anti-christian, to a point that many, including myself would consider far beyond satire. So if your offended by anything the article says, that was the point, and you fell for there little game, please don't take for granted that people are what they claim to be in the future, especialy not online.

Re:Very Un-Christian Behaviour

[slaker]

Having spent more than a little bit of time on that site, living in a place where such unctious Jesusland behavior is an accepted norm, and given the attitude of offense certain people take at the particular flavor of satire, all I can say is,

If you look at that site, and cannot instantly tell that it is meant to be humorous, you completely and utterly deserve the mockery and scorn of everyone else who can.

The authors of that site have a very valid message that is delivered very effectively. If you're offended as a xtian, why don't you take some time and convince those xtians you know who DO act like that to stop behaving in the ways that landoverbaptist lampoons?

Remember while you're being offended at someone who can make fun of your religion, that the evangelical xtian community didn't get upset when Jerry Falwell blamed 9/11 on gays and feminists, and George W. "Born Again" Bush has in the past publicly described the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as "Crusades". These are not exactly folks with shining ideals of tolerance and goodwill. Kind of makes me think that "people are what they claim to be" is only true if you START from the point of view of Landoverbaptist, at least as far as evangelical-types go. If you feel that their humor is in poor taste, just remember that those on the other side feels much the same way about you.

Re:Very Un-Christian Behaviour

[ezeri]

It's not satire, it's one giant troll. That you believe evangelical christians weren't upset with Jerry Falwell's comments following 9/11 shows exactly the willfull ignorance that allows sites like landoverbaptist.com to be seen as real by those who want it to be. In this case I realy don't care what the other side feels about me, I care that I've given them no legitimate reason to feel that way.

Re:Very Un-Christian Behaviour

[Anonymous Coward]

If you don't agree to accept their religion, they use their character to kill yours. Hmmm...that seems to violate both the old and new testament. Old Testament - Thou shalt not kill. New Testament - Love thy neighbor as thy self.
Right, however substitute the word Muslim for Christian in the original article and it suddenly makes much more sense.
Armed Muslims on a Jihad whose purpose is it to kill all infidels (non-believers), and suddenly it's not a joke anymore but frighteningly real. But, i guess the people who run the joke-website wouldn't have the guts to mock muslims.
Christians are an easy target, to critisize the Islam is probably politically incorrect for them.

It's funny because...

[ikewillis]

Landover Baptist has to be the most prominent religious parody on the Internet and yet people still believe it's real...

Re:It's funny because...

[goatan]

Landover Baptist has to be the most prominent religious parody on the Internet and yet people still believe it's real...

Probably because it's still not much of an exageration.

Re:It's funny because...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just to back up what goatan said, go to Rapture Ready or Fred Phelps' site to see why Landover Baptist fails as a parody.

Oh, the complaints

[jgoemat]

When I first read the snippet, I thought "Here may be an insightful article on the intersection of religion and virtual reality games." Then I clicked on the link and saw that it takes you to the Landover Baptist Church website. Check out some more articles from them:

• Kids! Accept Jesus Christ as Your Lord and Savior and Get a Free PlayStation 2!
• Speak in Tongues in 5-Days or Your Money Back!

  Landover Baptist Ministries puts its reputation on the line by promising to retain only 85% of the $2,304 cost of this deluxe one DVD set if you are not completely satisfied -- all you have to do is tell us you weren't 100% happy and pay the $350 shipping costs and allow the Landover Baptist Sin Patrol to scan your hard drive to ensure you didn't make a copy of this proprietary software -- or have photographs or movies that Pastor Deacon Fred has deemed after careful study to be offensive or sickening."

• Lucifer's Toy Chest

  Leap Start Learning Table - Marketed to Caucasian children and Colored adults, this so-called "Learning Table" spits out lies about math, science and other secular bunk Christ-haters teach in public schools. We suggest you just start your toddler out with an illustrated King James Bible and a spanking instead.

• How to Prosper During the Coming Financial Apocalypse

  8. Dispossess any children you even THINK might be gay before they're rounded up. Cut your losses now.

• What to Do With a Sissy Boy Who Says "No" to Sports

  2. If your boy approaches you in a contemplative manner about giving up sports (that is, he hasn't quite made up his mind, but is just coming to you for advice), hold your hand up with the backside toward his face and smack him firmly across his cheeks repeatedly until he cries like a little sissy. This is called, "bitch slapping." It is a humiliating and extremely effective way of showing your boy that he is embarrassing you by acting like a little girl.

• Penis-Shaped, Talking Masturbation Teaching Toy Marketed to Pre-Teen Girls!
• The Easter Bunny: A Deadly and Dangerous Trick From Satan!
• Good News For Christian Video Gamers! Unreal Tournament 2004® Bible Based Maps and Characters are on the Way!

  UPaint Software was used to create Bible Characters like Jesus for the Bible Blood Bath Christian Map Pack used with Unreal Tournament 2003.

• The "Return of the King" is NOT About Jesus!

  ... had many Christians convinced they were going to witness the final battle in the valley of Armageddon. As it turns out, unlike the KJV Bible, the film is just a silly made-up fantasy story written by some old homo in England.

• Book Burning Safety Tips

You guys can tell that this is a satirical web site, right?

Re:There's four types of people

[Anonymous Coward]

Some people don't think there is any evidence one way or the other about the existence of a diety, but they have discovered that many religious people are often easily baited and can be a source of sadistic amusement.

Dear God!

[Anonymous Coward]

If you look at the content on this site, it's either obviously fake or belongs to a cult, none of what they have posted is even remotely close to any church I've ever been to.

Dear God! What next? Betty Bowers is not America's Best Christian? Sweet Zombie Jesus!

Re:There's four types of people

[Tjebbe]

great pun, though

What the hell...?

[Anonymous Coward]

"I think the reason so many people are open to hearing about Jesus in the World of Warcraft is because the majority of people who play the game are lonely kids who don't have any friends."

Woh, woh, that's not true at all... most of us are adults.

"We meet under the docks in Booty Bay for a bible study every Tuesday night"

Raid!

Landover baptist...

[*s.panzer*]

Is a joke. Seriously. Its managed by an anti-christian group as a joke. Don't take anything seriously.

Nope...

[Anonymous Coward]

Take a look at the comments. Just because the foot is there doesn't mean you slashbots are too "smart" to fall for it.

And no, after reading slashdot for all these years and how religion always brings up simlular rants, I will not belive your "we/they knew it was a joke all along" type claims.

If you're offended as a xtian??

[LWATCDR]

How is this any less offensive than anti semitic crap? It is clearly a lie and is presented at least on Slashdot as the truth. I will admit that when I read it I was very ticked off when I read it thinking what total freaking losers why the hell are they giving Christians a bad name.
"f you feel that their humor is in poor taste, just remember that those on the other side feels much the same way about you."

I think that Nazis and the Klan are evil as can be. I guess I should remember that there are Nazis and members of the Klan that feel the say way about me? That does actually give me a happy feeling inside.

Frankly I have no love of Falwell and his type but this is just wrong.

Guess what? Spreading falsehoods about a religion, any religion is in poor taste and evil. I would feel the same about an site that spreads hate like this one does.

Re:If you're offended as a xtian??

[slaker]

Do you understand the difference between parody and hatred?

Do you understand that everything under landoverbaptist is a very subtle dig at some attitudes in desperate need of exactly the treatment given there?

The very fact that some humorless evangelical can't tell the difference between Landoverbaptist and the real, scary kind of evangelical rhetoric suggests to me that perhaps some of that scary rhetoric needs to change.

Re:If you're offended as a xtian??

[LWATCDR]

" Do you understand the difference between parody and hatred?"

Yes I do. But this article was not presented on Slashdot as a parody. Do you not understand the difference between parody and hatred? One is intent. If someone put up a parody showing all Muslims as terrorists would you call it a parody? Sure the south park guys got away with it but they did it using puppets. This really looked like a news article and the way it was linked was linked in Slashdot was misleading. If you think otherwise take a look at the comments.

As too some real scary kind of evangelical rhetoric needing to change. Of course there is! There is all sorts of real scary rhetoric of all kinds that need to be changed but labeling all Christians with it is as wrong as saying all follower of Islam are terrorists, all Jews hate all Arabs, all blacks hate all whites, all whites hate all blacks.
It is just wrong and hateful. Every bit as bad as some of the "Christan" sites that you may take offense too.

Re:If you're offended as a xtian??

[Anonymous Coward]

i disagree with you, but i have to say that you made an excellent point.

Re:There's four types of people

[Anonymous Coward]

Dubya? Is that you?

Obviously a Farce

[Maeric]

Okay, so it's a farce. Although I seriously wasn't sure until I came to this point in the article:

I think that when Jesus said in Mark 16:15, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, He knew that True Christians(TM) like me in the future, would be called into virtual worlds where we'd be witnessing to gnomes, trolls, night elves and all sorts of other creatures.

I knew that sounded a little weird so I checked Mark 16:15 out and this is what it really says:

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."

I enjoy satire like most people, but I have to shake my head at this one. How did this ever make it onto Slashdot? Shame... oh the shame of it all.

Loosers?

[cuerty]

Laugh about this. Maybe offtopic but anyway funny :)

I spent an hour there

[briancnorton]

I seriously spent an hour on this site, and I COULD NOT TELL if it was serious or not. I was laughing my ass off for 20 minutes straight. It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The entire thing seems so incredibly serious, but then they start talking about how you have to kill your parents, and how to steal their credit cards andwhat not. It's beautiful.

This is a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Landover Baptist is a joke. It is not real. Some guy with a great sense of humor is pulling all your collective legs.

drake 3411 at gee mail dot com