By Kieron Gillen on April 29th, 2009 at 10:43 am.
Have you been following the Faith Fighter controversy? If not, I’ll explain the background below, but it’s taken a fun turn. Molleindustria – who you may remember from Oiligarcy – found that their original Faith Fighter has outraged the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (and so indirectly 1.3 billion believers). Since Molleindustria was upset they missed their irony, they pulled the original from their site and made the tolerance-is-awesome Faith Fighter 2. And, really, it’s about as disingenuous as it gets. I feel the need to applaud.
You have to assume they’re adding in – ahem – bad faith, because while they’ve removed the game from their site as a symbolic gesture it’s still available on their actual account at Newsgrounds and the source code for the original is still on their site for anyone who wants to get it. But most importantly, Faith Fighter 2 rips the piss out the whole concept of belief by asking you to try and support all the gods, and some aliens and the spaghetti monster. And if you don’t – oh, something bad will happen, probably. In other words, they’re apologising while flicking the Vs, as good agent provocateurs should.
(Not that I think they’re acting totally insincerely with their apology. A satirist hitting a target they weren’t aiming at does tend to annoy – which is why I think they’ve refocused their attack with Faith Fighter 2.)
The scandal? Well, the Metro ran a GAMES HATRED story with some renta-quote types in it. The OIC noticed it and gave a statement asking it to be withdrawn from ISPs. And then the news picked up on it. And lo! Scandal.
Let’s hand over to our PaRappa The Rapper to end on a song.
You really do.
I’m gonna send this to Pat Condell.
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The original Faith Fighter is awesome.
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Molleindustria are gods.
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‘This game is going out of its way to upset people and I think it should be taken off the internet,’ said Douglas Miller, pastor of the Link Church in Birmingham.
The internet is no place for things which upset people.
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I find this OIC site offensive for atheists! It must be taken off-line immediately, lets go protest with the provider!
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DMJ – I offer a corollary. The internet is no place for people who get upset. ;)
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thanks PaRapper
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I prefer : The Internet is no place for people.
Or simply: The Internet is no place.
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Or we could run with – Punch Kick, It’s all in your mind.
Edit – I suppose the Pastafarians will be all up in arms about this one as well.
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Kudos. Great response. :)
Double kudos for Parappa
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Prepare to be the target of a massive online hate campaign for implying that FSM is not a god. Your effigy will be burned in Flash animation.
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Another group self proclaimed to represent an entire religion…
You know the only person who can actually have any claim to doing that is the Pope and I bet even he is smart enough not to use an acronym that spells out Oick.
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The Metro’s coverage is lazy reactionary journalism, but they at least mention that it was members of more than one faith being annoyed by this.
I shouldn’t have been surprised but the Mail really pulls out the stops for a ‘MUSLIMS ARE REACTIONARY LOOK HOW REACTIONARY THEY ARE’ story. And hints in a not-so-subtle way that we’ll all be set to the torch because of reactionary Muslims.
Of course it says this in a non-reactionary way.
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Ugh, I think I’ve used the word ‘reactionary’ more times today than at any other time in my life. I need a better Thesaurus.
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I’m offended that I couldn’t see Horace in there. Discrimination!
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Up in Noodly Appendages!, surely.
Wait, that doesn’t make any sense.
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There is no internet.
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@Theoban
The Metro is owned by the same folks who own the Mail, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they stoked the flames so that their sister paper could later bask in their glow.
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@James G – ah I didn’t know that. Surprised the Metro version of the story even mentions some Brummie minister being narked then.
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Does everybody on this site live in Brum? crazy
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How come it’s always muslims and patriotic americans that cry the loudest?
buhu you offended my religion/country, now im going to make you censor everything.
Asians keep it cool though, they know how to chill.
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I won’t say that I’m not offended a little by this game, but I think the public reaction is a bit of an overkill. It’s not like we don’t have anything else to do! There are more important things for believers to worry about! There’s still war in the world, hunger, poorness and Half Life 2 ep 3 still isn’t out!
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@Dave
Brum? Because of the Metro? It started out as a London paper and they do localised editions all over the country.
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@Name (required)
Are you suggesting non-asians can’t chill? That’s racist!!!
And why wasn’t Discordia represented? I’m deeply offended.
Down with the internet!!
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wait… people still believe in gods? you`re kidding me, right?
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ALL HAIL ERIS!
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@ Name [required]
Amazingly enough there are Muslims in Asia.
Which was kind of my point about the silliness of one group claiming they speak for everybody but whatever.
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Dispite having never played the game, I am deeply offended that Bob, of the Church of the SubGenius, was not included.
No slack for you.
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I was a tad peeved that Odin, the All-Father, wasn’t featured in the original game but i guess that was just a balancing issue…….
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I was just thinking how fantastic it would be to be known as ‘The All-Father’ but then for that to be true you’d also have to have ‘The All-Baby Mother’ and I’m pretty sure the misses wouldn’t like that at all.
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There is only one god in the RPS comments thread, and it’s Horace The Endless Bear.
Don’t forget it.
KG
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I sacrificed three cauliflowers and a pigeon to Bacchus last week, and I’ve still not heard back from him. I swear, with customer service like this I’ll be taking my religious offerings elsewhere.
What does Isis give for a pigeon these days?
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Yeah, most Muslims in Britain are probably Asian by descent.
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The internet, no.
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@Bobsy
I don’t know, I went round to her’s the other day but there was a sign on the door “Osi’s dead again we’ll be back in a bits”
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Being a Christian I gotta say this is silly. I’m more offended by some group coming up and claiming to speak for me then I am by some game.
Seems to me that any God fearing Christian should LOVE this game. You can play Jesus and crush all the other false religions with his holy sandals , what’s not to love ? :P
I could see why Muslims may not like it since they have religious rules against creating a likeness of Mohammad, can’t blame them for that they’re just staying true to their faith, but I don’t think it was ever the intention of the game designers to offend them in that specific way. Now if they had Mohammad come on stage with a bomb vest on and an AK-47 I could see some outrage as being the proper reaction :P
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How dare they make fun of us Pastafaris.
(edit: Pastafarians?)
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@ DMJ
There’s a Link Church in Birmingham? Wow.
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I’M offended by the fact that I got all the way to Xenu (go Budai!), and then the cheap bastard just kept freezing me in a block of ice and jump kicking me to death.
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Sounds like my friends tactic with subzero lol
I’ve got a question. Why isn’t Chuck Norris in this game?
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All bow to the one and only real god: David Casperson
http://www.davidcaspersonfacts.com/
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@Serondal
Its all very well Muslims getting hot headed about about their religous rules and slagging off their prophet, but why should that mean that non believers have to toe the line? the whole idea of not choosing to follow one particular religion means I dont have to piss about following their customs.
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Wait, Jesus is God, and Shiva and Ghanesh are both forms of Brahman, yet still they battle each other.
I’d have thought Mr Outraged Theologist person would have taken the time to understand the complexity of the symbolism and the metaphor of the mulitplicity of God before critizicing the game.
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I think this game would be better of as an RPG battle type thing. That way if you get Jesus God and the Holy Spirit all on your team you get a good ol final fantasy Tri-attack :P
@SmokingKipper – I would like to answer your question but I don’t want to offend anyone if I’m wrong. But as far as I understand the Koran or however it is spelled splits the world into 2 factions. Faithful Muslims and Other, and if they meet someone they can’t convert they’re suposed to kiill them? I’ve never read the passage myself but I believe that is in there some place O.o
I’m not saying all muslims feel this way (obviously they don’t or we’d see a lot more killings) But that sort of black and white view of the world is probably why they see fit to hold non-muslims accountable for their religious rules. This is why they feel it just to go crazy when someone makes a cartoon of Mohammed ect. I saw on the news a few months back where a teacher lost her job and was punished severly because she allowed the class to name a teddy bear mohammad O.o
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Also, what no Invisible Pink Unicorn?
Wait, maybe she’d be overpowered seeing as you couldn’t see her.
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I demand this news post be taken off the internet.
Flash games are forbidden and you are an infidel for posting about them.
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“Wait, maybe she’d be overpowered seeing as you couldn’t see her.”
Seeing as you couldn’t see her?
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Guys… is 2009. God don’t exist. It was *invented* because lack of understaming of how the world work. Now that we know how the world work, we don’t need to inventa “big parents on the sky”. All religions must die.
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i totally missed that this morning.
Why are you reading the metro expecting quality, non knee jerk reactionism journalism ism? its both free AND daily..
although i do love reading the stories about cute animals whilst on the train
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Irreligious folk get so much shit from people with a basic sense of righteousness. Imagine you’re an atheist and buses had ads saying you’ll go to hell and burn for eternity. That wouldn’t be too nice.
The Atheist bus campaign was a response to a Christian bus ad that displayed the url of just that type of heathen burning website.
People make fun of the peaceful guys because it’s all a bit absurd really, peaceful or not.
The original Faith Fighters was awesome, but the way.
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I worship Talos, where do we stand on fictional deities? (hurrr)
Actually, I’m pretty much agnostic, or apathetic. I like religion.
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To make social satire through games is genius.
By the way, another one of their games, “Operation: Pedopriest”, was censored in Italy some years ago. The censorship was discussed and approved in the Italian parliament, and motivated with the argument that the game will eventually encourage people to have pedophillic behaviour…
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I’m almost certain what you refer to as an alien is supposed to be Xenu.
Gotta include the Scientologists!
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[pushes away the crowd and stands on his own portable soap box]
@kobzon
I dont think your arguement holds up. I think this wave of ahtiest activism and questioning is due to people actually sitting up and taking stock of this whole religion business. I mean seriously have people actually read the whole of the bible? When you see it for the tripe it actually is, you begin to question why the hell anyone can take ideas to heart. What you call “Religious folk get[ting] so much shit” I call ahtiests showing exasperation for how people can be led along on in to believing the most crazyiest of ideas. They cannot help but point out that Gods, like faires, witches and unicorns surely should had there day by now?
Have we not as humans come too far along the road to have these cobbled together bronze age texts hanging on our coat tails, claiming dibs on for the sources of our greatest achievements?
[runs away!...]
As a side note, I was reading something that made me laugh. About the idea how if people really do think they will survive their own death, why do they not show envy and jealously to those close to death?
[in the voice of Monthy python]
“Dying say? You lucky bastard! I’ll have to toil away for another 40 years, but you get to bugger off and go live in eternal bliss, virgins and paradise, floating on clouds and all that.”
“Yes yes, I cannot wait, afterlife here I come!”
You just don’t see it happening much eh?
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@Klaus: oh rly?
Helm does not approve…
/produces mace
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There is no Gap Gen.
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I love my FSM sticker on the back of my car. It’s like a one question, pass/fail IQ test: If they ask The Question, they fail.
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SmokingKipper: interestingly, this article describes how atheists were generally more accepting of death than the religious in terminal situations. Odd.
Edit: Buggered up the html thingy, but you get the idea…
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Inverse solipsism, we meet again.
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more importantly why cant i play as Jesus’ alt aslan.
atheists should be represented by a mech and humanist atheists the care bears.
Seriously though the problem with religion is that its one of the biggest diseases in the world, transmitted early on in life, paternally/ maternally before children can build up their bullshit atibodies.
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What/who is the final boss in it?
Their is supposed to be a nice twist at the end of this game does anyone know what it is?
I would guess that you find out that the final boss …..does not exist :)
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Helm is dead, but Talos is no more! I will move to Kelemvor. Huzzah!
From my fog of agnosticism, both the atheists and the religious folk look pretty similar. What with all the shouting, tantrums and lovely extremism. Only the religious have creation mythology stories which I find neat and the atheists are talking about how hawt Dawkins is.
In short, I will put up with your extremism -for a while- if you make it interesting.
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@Chris
The final boss is actually an alien. Played Faith Fighter 1 at work yesterday (slow day, shame on me) and completed it as god.
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1.3 million muslims? That’s a hell of a combo.
Um…a christian interpretation of hell. Uh, Christ, I’m just making it worse. Oh God I’ve done it again.
Oh shit.
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To quote Serondal: “Being a Christian I gotta say this is silly. I’m more offended by some group coming up and claiming to speak for me then I am by some game.
…
I could see why Muslims may not like it since they have religious rules against creating a likeness of Mohammad”
One phrase springs to mind, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” aka the second commandment.
Which is of course shared between Judaism, Islam and Christianity. That’s why puritans don’t have statues of the virgin mary, it still doesn’t explain having crosses all over the place though. It’s not a hard rule ya know, but still there’s all these different little groups who disagree on such points.
Also I’ve got to mention the fact that not all sects of Islam forbid images of the prophet, which you kinda claimed they do, just after saying you hate groups that claim to speak for everyone. Umm, yeah.
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Flash games are an abomination unto Nuggan!
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Flash games are kawaii.
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“Don’t they teach logic in schools anymore?”
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@Name, muslims don’t necessary shout the loudest, it’s just that publications like the daily mail like to jump on any objection raised by any group even remotely connected to this particular religion. Pure bigotry of course, but then there’s a lot of that in this thread too and you lot are supposed to be somewhat more enlightened than the daily mail reader. I think many people don’t realize how bad this “omigod muslims are crazy” meme has gotten.
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too true :/
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@Malagate I’m not speaking for all Muslims or even any Muslims at all in fact. I even said that in my post if you read it all :P I say “I’m not saying all Muslims feel this way” In fact I’m not sure what way anyone else feels besides me, was just trying to clear up the other guy on why some Muslims seem to want to put other people to their rules. I Never said a I hate anyone either . . . I just said I’m /more/ offended by someone doing something of that nature than a game like this.
People are going to say what they’re going to say about you and what you believe in one way or another. No reason to get all crazy when someone says something horrible about your God, it is hurting them more than it is hurting you. I feel sorry for them, yah, but I don’t hate anyone just because they’re (in my opinion) Misguided one way or another. I love all you guys regardless if you hate me for being Christian or hate/don’t believe in my God. If you have a good time making up pictures,phrases,games ect to insult me then by all means have a great time. It isn’t going to get ME angry but I’m sure there are plenty of “christians” out there that will go nuts when you do.
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