Slashdot Mirror
Charity Refuses Donation Because of D&D Connection
An anonymous reader writes "This year's GenCon Charity Auction
raised over $17,000 which they intended to donate to Gary Gygax's favorite charity,
Christian Children's Fund.
However, the charity refused the donation when they learned of its connection to Dungeons & Dragons." It seems to me all they would need to do is cast remove curse or dispel evil and the money would be fine to use.
CCF is not a sponsor. They are the sponsored charity. No endorsement from CCF was needed. Well... a simple "thank you" would have sufficed.
*They* decided to turn down the gift, which CAN be interpreted as having such an opinion.
So CCF had to back-pedal, and release an announcement about how to interpret the decision. Meh. Too late, the dunderheads have spoken very loudly with their actions.
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
Christian Children's Fund made the decision to decline the gift from Gen Con, LLC as the request presented to us gave the appearance that CCF (the organization) was an endorser or supporter of a gaming convention, which CCF was not.
Therefore, anyone they do accept money from, they are endorsing. Interesting. Sure makes you wanna know who's been donating.
Well, the difference here is that they feel that the donation implies their endorsement, while other donations might carry no such implication. Its perfectly valid for a charity to be careful about what they appear to endorse. They've explicitly stated that it has nothing to do with D&D, so why not take their words at face value? Whats the harm? That we can't get worked up into an "OMG Christians!" fervor?
Hell, send the money to Child's Play. Great cause and run by gamers.
No, this particular donation appeared to imply an endorsement. They're in no way saying that every donation received implies an endorsement. Why they feel that way is probably related to the detail of how the funds were raised and donated (as in, I'm not a lawyer so I wouldn't know).
You should really check out some of the Chick religious tracts surrounding gaming and witchcraft. I really don't think I've ever laughed that hard before in my life.
Today is red jello day - all workers must eat all of their red jello. Failure to comply will result in five demerits.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Gen Con, LLC should donate the money to some other worthwhile charity and "Get Over Themselves!"
They did, your point was what again?
You know, they are a private charity and are free to any opinion and action they wish as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others.
And others are perfectly free to call them idiots for it. Or does freedom of opinion only go one way?
I used to run D&D sessions in lunchtimes at school, back in the 80s. They got more and more popular until a dozen or so of my fellow students would gather in the classroom to get involved in my latest effort. Then the PTA got wind of it, the school banned it, and the kids went back to doing nothing much at all. (To add insult to injury, we were only playing Basic & Expert D&D. I tried to explain it wasn't 'The devil worshipping one' but they weren't buying it.)
Hal Spacejock: Science Fiction with Nuts
You forgot one:
An atheist on Slashdot is characterized by their remarkable ability to build and knock down ridiculous straw men for a religion of which they remain willfully and almost entirely ignorant, and yet continue to claim rationality as their guiding light.
A similar level of ignorance of any other subject on which one would claim to speak intelligibly would rightly result in that person laughed out of the room. Only here can we be so anal about parsing code correctly in joke posts and yet admire ourselves for so completely misunderstanding and misrepresenting all religious belief, belief which has claimed the adherence of many of the greatest minds the world has known.
Paint 'em all dumb, I guess, if it allows me to feel special and earn the fleeting respect of my fellow /.ers.
To reign is to serve.