Left Behind's Chilling Effect on the US Military

When America's Army was released for the PC a few years ago, there were musings among discussion groups online about the potential for US Army propaganda to be delivered via the irresistible lure of an intense first-person shooter (FPS) game.

But what about an evangelical entertainment group distributing apocalyptic Christian propaganda to soldiers with the tacit approval of the Department of Defense?

While the above scenario may sound like something out of satirical political fiction, it's actually going on right now, according to The Nation.

From the article in question:

With the endorsement of the Defense Department, [Operation Straight Up] OSU is mailing "Freedom Packages" to soldiers serving in Iraq. These are not your grandfather's care packages, however. Besides pairs of white socks and boxes of baby wipes ... OSU's care packages contain the controversial Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game.

The game is inspired by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins' bestselling pulp fiction series about a blood-soaked Battle of Armageddon pitting born-again Christians against anybody who does not adhere to their particular theology. In LaHaye's and Jenkins' books, the non-believers are ultimately condemned to "everlasting punishment" while the evangelicals are "raptured" up to heaven.

And while video games can differ greatly from the books they are based upon, this game series in particular seems to give one pause for concenr.

Here's a quick refresher on the game, via David Neiwert, a freelance journalist based in Seattle who won the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism in 2000 for his reporting for MSNBC.com:

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission -- both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state -- especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice.
...
This game immerses children in present-day New York City -- 500 square blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the United Nations headquarters, and Harlem. The game rewards [players] for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian. The game also offers players the opportunity to switch sides and fight for the army of the AntiChrist, releasing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on conservative Christians and their panicked proselytes (who taste a lot like Christian).

David Neiwert noted this confluence recently, and said he was very concerned about this latest convergence of the military, evangelical outreach and the video game because "... [b]y making this proselytization part of official DOD 'outreach', we begin the process of making the Christian conversion of American soldiers official military policy... then we are sending these converts into a Muslim war zone with visions of crusades dancing in their heads."

I got the chance to interview David Neiwert about this for Associated Content about this eyebrow-raising issue. Here's what he had to say:

Shawn: In your latest dispatch on the subject, one quote jumped out at me: "Knowing that these soldiers are being preconditioned for a "kill or convert" mentality through video gaming, that concern just became a bona fide state of alarm." Do you really think that somehow that mentality will transfer over soldiers that play the game? Or are you more concerned with Left Behind being distributed with the [Department of Defense's] tacit approval by a group that is devoted to prosteltyzing?

David Neiwert: I'm concerned that some of the more damaged and vulnerable veterans are going to transfer the ethos they learn in the game to their real lives... I'm not saying it's going to be a pervasive effect, but it only takes a few of these actors to wreak a lot of damage -- see Tim McVeigh.

Multiply McVeigh by a significant factor --there are many thousands more to have served in Iraq than in Gulf War I-and many more of them have endured multiple tours and violent combat. And the care they're getting back home is substantially worse.

Shawn: Do you really think Left Behind is an effective vehicle to do this, though? It's an awful game that has been near universally panned by critics and gamers.

DN: Yes, I'm aware that it's an awful game-- my own gaming skills lapsed after Doom, but I read the reviews and have a nephew who keeps me somewhat up to date-- and that at least offers some hope it won't spread its message very far. But I'm nonetheless concerned with the message it conveys, especially when it comes with imprimatur of a DOD outreach program, and the possibility that it will spread. Especially when twinned with "crusade" oriented proselytization that we know does attract followers who are going to be absorbing those messages even if they only play the game once or twice.

Shawn: Well, what about the fact that the game offers a mode of play where you can take the side of the Anti-Christ (even if you can't win)? Won't that dilute its message?

DN: An option to play the "antichrist" is an inconsequential palliative in a narrative where the chief object is to convert or kill; at best, it merely encourages the player to imagine himself as innately evil, so the option isn't exactly a heartening in any event.

Shawn: First there was America's Army, the FPS. Now there's Left Behind being distributed in care packages with the official okay of the Department of Defense? Does this mean prostelyzing or propaganda via official army channels could be a growing trend?

DN: There are signs that intramilitary proselytization is indeed a growing trend; there has been a rising controversy over military chaplains' behavior of late, particularly within the Air Force; there were also, of course, the well-noted remarks of Gen. Boykin; and four Air Force and Army generals were recently disciplined for participating in a fundamentalist proselytizing video in uniform. The OSU, however, is the most prominent manifestation of the trend.