Post originally by cjudisch at 2004-10-24 09:17:07
Converted from Phorums BB System

I'm not sure that it's that clear cut.

While it's true that the "Mad Cultist" archetype has been around in comics (and just about any other storytelling media I can think of) since people first started writing down lies and calling them fiction, I don't think that this line of games or any line of games that *I* can think of offhand the perpetuates ugly and incorrect stereotypes about religion, religious people, and/or Fundamentalist Christianity (I'm not saying that there isn't an RPG or RPG line out there that does it, but that *I've* never seen one - I *HAVE* seen the opposite, however). It's a facinating image, and it's why I think it's been around for so long.

That being said, there *IS* the perception amoung a lot of Fundamentalist Christians that Christianity is somehow under attack (more properly, many Christian Fundimentalist believe that the right of believers to practice their chosen religion as they see fit is under attack) because of such ongoing social controversies such as the words "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegience, Prayer and other religious displays in Schools, the 10 Commandments in the Courthouse in Alabama thing, The ongoing debate about Gay Marraige, etc...

The flip side of that is that many Athiests, adherents of NON-evangelical sects of Christianity, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Pagans, Wiccans, etc... feel very threatened by what they percieve as the Fundamentalist Christianity movement's full-court press to get their religion officially sanctioned by the state and written into the law of the land. A lot of those folks don't like the direction the see the country moving in and there is an understandable counter-reaction.

And, you can't talk about Religious Fundamentalism without talking about September 11th, 2001. While much of this country (certainly much of the Fundamentalist Christian movement) sees the war against terrorism in terms of Christianity vs. Islam, there is *ALSO* a growing group of folks who see it as "Religious Fanatics vs Thinking People". Terrorist acts are not confined to a single religion. Eric Rudolph (who bombed several abortion clinics across the American southeast) was a Fundamentalist Christian and he was helped to hidden in the hills of South Carolina by other Fundamentalist Christians. Paul Hill, the Presbyterian Minister who murdered Dr. David Gunn was a Fundamentalist Christian. The Reverend Fred Phelps, who goes around protesting at the feunerals of Homosexuals with signs that read "(Deseaced's Name) was a (Anti-Homosexual Slur) and now burns in Hell" and such (he first gained notoriety when he staged a protest at the feuneral of Matthew Shepard, who was murdered because he was openly homosexual in wyoming) is a Fundamentalist Christian Minister. David Khoresh was a Fundamentalist Christian. All of them have highly-active communities of admirers/supporters on the internet.

Let's also not forget that less than 15 years ago, there was a serious and concerted effort to ban most RPGs that was initiated and largely spearheaded by Fundamentalist Christians who believed that RPGs encouraged the Occult, Pagainism, and/or Satanism. Many prominent members of the Christian Fundamentalist movement (Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell, Ralph Reed, etc...) *STILL* speak out about the "Evils of Dungeons and Dragons and other occult games).

Comic Books have been the target of similar treatment in the past (indeed, it was Religious Fundamentalists and Social Conservatives that spearheaded the effort that eventually led to the Senate Hearings on Comic Books in the 1950s).

I bring the above up not to start a political discussion or a flame war or anything, but to illustrate that there are a lot of different points of view and that all sides of the debate can point to something to justify the way they feel (to themselves, if to nobody else).

To further muddy the waters, Steve Kenson is, if I'm not mistaken, gay. He thanks his partner Christopher for his love and support in the dedication in the back of the Mutants & Masterminds Rulebook. So it's understandable that he might (I'm not saying that he does, I don't know the man) harbor an unconscious predjudice against people who tell him that they love him, but that they hate the "sin" (to them, I'm not making any value judgements here) of his relationship with the man he loves and/or that his love is "An Abomination".

So, like I said at the outset, I don't think that it's as clear cut as some folks are making it out to be.