Thou Shalt Not Kill: Halo 3 and Church

on October 9th, 2007

Just read this amazing new article in the New York Times about Halo 3 and youth groups using the game for outreach nights – really fellowship and evangelism. It seems they come down pretty strong on the “no way” side of the game at a church event, and I was wondering what you think?

a) have you used any of the Halo games in/at your church or youth group?
b) is it OK to use it at home and not at the church?
c) why should this game NOT be used?

I’ll share my opinion tomorrow, but I don’t think it’ll surprise you. Here’s a clip:

First the percussive sounds of sniper fire and the thrill of the kill. Then the gospel of peace.

Across the country, hundreds of ministers and pastors desperate to reach young congregants have drawn concern and criticism through their use of an unusual recruiting tool: the immersive and violent video game Halo.

The latest iteration of the immensely popular space epic, Halo 3, was released nearly two weeks ago by Microsoft and has already passed $300 million in sales.

Those buying it must be 17 years old, given it is rated M for mature audiences. But that has not prevented leaders at churches and youth centers across Protestant denominations, including evangelical churches that have cautioned against violent entertainment, from holding heavily attended Halo nights and stocking their centers with multiple game consoles so dozens of teenagers can flock around big-screen televisions and shoot it out.

The alliance of popular culture and evangelism is challenging churches much as bingo games did in the 1960s. And the question fits into a rich debate about how far churches should go to reach young people.

Far from being defensive, church leaders who support Halo — despite its “thou shalt kill” credo — celebrate it as a modern and sometimes singularly effective tool. It is crucial, they say, to reach the elusive audience of boys and young men.

JG


View More: , , , ,

Leave a Comment

Kevin at 11:12am October 9

I’ve never had a problem killing aliens before. People are different. Aliens aren’t real. If they were all Viva Pinata characters, would people care?

Also,if Lord of the Rings, which seems a lot more realistic and dark is only pg-13 and the church embraced that because Tolkien was a buddy of C.S. Lewis, who cares about Halo?

Lastly, I would have to say that Halo is one of the most mild of all rated M games and I questioned why it was rated M anyway.

Matthew McNutt at 4:19pm October 10

I am in the ‘no Halo in church’ camp. And yes, I have Halo 3. Love it. I am disgusted by gory video games and like many, I’m not quite sure why it even has an M rating. I do not think for a moment that we need to use Halo to bring out a crowd; I have a video game party every year in my tiny town with only a few hundred teens total in the region … and I’ll get a crowd of 50-70 kids out to play video games for a few hours. It’s all family friendly games; kids just have a blast playing on the video projectors and big screens. I avoid the controversy and still manage to pull in a crowd of kids who otherwise have never visited our church.

Personally, I love Halo. I owned one and two, and now own three. And I have an XBox live membership that I have specifically so I can play against others … but I don’t bring it up with my teens because some parents don’t allow their kids to have it and I don’t want to be an arguement tool for the kids; ‘pastor Matthew thinks it’s okay!’ Which would be twisting it, since I only play the game at night when my kids are asleep; they’re too young for it! : )

Anyway, a bunch of disjointed thoughts to say that I do not think it is an appropriate church activity … and that it is just an excuse to play a game we like to say that we need it to bring in kids – kids come out for video games regardless. I can get a crowd out with MarioKart, Smash Bros., Madden, etc. The only shooter I play with teens is Greg Hastings Paintball; awesome action and graphics, no death. Not a single parent has been offended by it and in my paintball crazed community, that game has the longest lines waiting for a turn.