Church + rated mature video game = ???

Church. A holy place of worship and prayer. The house of God. A place of peace, tranquility, and...gunshots? Wait a sec, did I just hear gunshots? Sounds like its coming from the basement of the church. I'll just take these steps downstairs and...whoa. A giant plasma screen TV! Oh wait, more TVs and a bunch of video game consoles. Hold on, is that an xbox 360 and Halo 3? Wait, am I in the arcades or the church? Well, there's the priest, the youth ministry leader, and the group of young teen members of the church community. This is definitely the church. But why are these kids playing a violent, mature oriented, video game called Halo 3 inside the church premises? Well, this article within slashdot explains the reason.

Basically, this article is about various church communities in America using the video game Halo 3 as a tool to reach young teens and "use the game’s themes as the basis for a discussion about good and evil". Personally, I think this act is blasphemy. It goes against the morality of the church. As a catholic, I think this act promotes violence rather than goodwill. The church is obviously a holy place for Christians and Catholics to pray, to self reflect, and to be together with people who believe in doing good. However, having a violent game inside the house of God taints the holy image of the church.

In addition, I think the priests behind this theme of using video games to lure in young teens into the church community are crazy. These priests need to be excommunicated because they are promoting the use of guns and violence to young teens. The game is rated for teenagers seventeen and older. But a majority of teens that are members of these churches are aged twelve, fourteen, and fifteen. Clearly, these priests are violating the rating system of the game and they are letting underaged teens playing a violent game. These priests are a disgrace to the church.

Despite the continuous effort of various churches using Halo 3 to reach young teens, I disagree with this idea. I don't like churches promoting violence because this destroys the self image of the church. Churches should find alternatives in reaching young teens without compromising the image of the church.