Grand Theft Auto fans call for ban on ‘sickening’ Bible in fightback after attack on the game

News.com.au writes:

The post on change.org claims the “sickening” religious book encourages readers to “commit sexual violence and kill women”.

But there’s more to the controversial statement than meets the eye.

It is part of a growing movement in the gaming community to subvert criticism directed at Grand Theft Auto V, which was banned from Target and Kmart this week.

[BigBosss]

I sorta knew this was going to happen. Taking a game out of shelves and someone or group of people striking back.

Dear Lord, what has the world come too :/

[hay]

The world has come to the point of arguing which pathological fictional bullshit is more degrading to psychical health instead of simply producing better results.

[WeAreLegion]

Jesus, dude. Warn people before you swing something around with that much edge. There could be a hemophiliac here.

[FriedGoat]

hahahha

[Conzul]

I marked you as offensive.

Because neither the content of the Bible nor the content of Grand Theft Auto is outside the realm of possibility. Also because I happen to worship both.

[hay]

I marked you as immature 'cause there's no Ignorant option. Bible IS A LIE which was used to murder milions of my people and ancestors and is a blashpemy to God and any human on the planet, in opposite to GTA which is just a satire on human ignorance and stupidity.

I happen to really like one and know the other is a ridiculous pile of lies some uneducated people tend to worship.That's why it's bullshit.

But yeah, let's ignore history, research and focus on the topic of fairly incompatible with modern world faith instead, invented reaaaly long ago to reign the fools. That's what gaming is all about acutally. Allegiance to a brand, company, logo or a name. That's why those censorship bans are sane, professional reviews are trustworthy and official release trailers are descriptive.

The abrahamic tetragrammaton(Judaism, Christianism, Islam and parts of Hindu) is a deceptive lie and it will be fought off with all the might.

This ban is dumb and shouldn't be set. This conversation is pointless, and should end before it even started.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

No one is forcing you to believe, why do you have to insult someone because they believe otherwise. Freedom of religion is a freedom to believe what you want.

People like yourselves and Bill Nye who prioritize their beliefs over others and have no hesitation to throw insults and factless accusation are exactly the type of people who start wars, inquisitions and behead those different from them...not any one religion or belief per se.

[telekineticmantis]

Which book produces better results than the bible? I mean, I know you nothing about the bible, and probably little about true world history, but I still would be enchanted by your attempt.

[Dee_91]

As a man in faith I love this petition lol.
It shows that you can interpret just about anything in a negative way.

@Sheikh Yerbouti
Umm yea, people do force you to believe, which might be the reason a lot of people turn atheist.You can bet your ass that when jesus was hanging with gays and prostitutes he wasn't yelling at them to repent or go to hell lol.But yes, there is a hypocrisy within both crowds to some point.

@hay
Your comment gave me migranes.
Let me offend a lot of people and defend muh lovely gamez!!

[hay]

@Dee_91: If you could read and comprehend, you'd actually see I'm pitting both in the same entertainment box.

@telekeneticmantis: Cute attempt.

[Dee_91]

"you'd actually see I'm pitting both in the same entertainment box."

... which is why your comment gave me a migraine..

[Harold_Finch]

Conzul labelled a post immature because he believes in GOD, fantastic. There's one loss for the smart generation. Hopefully this crap will be exinct in a few hundred years...

One question, what type of relious person plays a game like GTA V???? What the hell do you expect in this fiction within fiction it's the Inception style of lying????

[Conzul]

@Finch

Um,,,NO, I marked him as *offensive*, not immature.
Because he called the Bible "pathological fictional bullshit". Oh and GTA, because he was referring to both.

The Bible is a record and GTA is a satire. Neither produce pathology in a person, but may reveal it if already present.

"One question, what type of relious person plays a game like GTA V????"

Ehhh, telling a person that they don't exist is a surefire way to piss them off.

[Dee_91]

"There's one loss for the smart generation. "
Ahh yes the "smart generation".Very post barbaric, very tolerant bunch... unless you disagree with what they think.More like the hypocritical generation.So smart, so much intelligence, but no common sense.

[spicelicka]

Well the question is, do target and Kmart sell bibles?

This all seems ridiculous to me. I definitely don't think GTA should be banned, but this is an absurd way to protest that.

[rainslacker]

Honestly, this does nothing to really help people see gamers in a good light. Attacking the church only plays into the stereotype that gamers are morally bankrupt.

[SteamPowered]

Really? I don't see any difference between gamers denouncing the bible anymore than the church goers protesting gta. Tit for tat really. Christians protesting against gta are no more mature than these gamers protesting the bible. Nobody is forcing their kids to play gta any more than gamers are forced to go to church.
It's almost a sweet irony that Christians are rioting over this game and it's fictionalized violence, compared to the bible and it's "accurate" depiction of the beginnings of Christianity, who's roots were born in violence.

[iSuperSaiyanGod]

If you're really comparing the bible to gta , you're a f'ing retard . No offense but anybody who even thinks they're the same thing or on the same level obviously is a basement troll .

[rainslacker]

Denouncing either is mostly based on assumptions and misinformation. I was speaking more about in perception. If Christians already had it in their minds that gamers were morally corrupt, then stuff like this doesn't help, because Christians do tend to not like people talking bad about their religion.

[Ark_]

These petitions are satire and made me laugh in the fist place.

Imo many ppl react a bit oversensitive here, concerning their beloved game or religion. The original petition to ban the game has at least an understandable background of real life experience, although it heads in the wrong direction.

All in all: news is funny stuff.

[UKmilitia]

right so bishops can fiddle kids,but i cant kill hookers?
talk about double standards

[Harold_Finch]

Eaxctly, we should all live in fear of "pissing you off" i apologise. In the future, i'll let your beliefs be more important than the beliefs of the Rockstar employees and the N4G user's.

For goodness sake, they are trying to ban a game because a developer chose to showcase his own beliefs, it is hypocritical.

Stalin and Mao were athiests who started a lot of conflict that killed many innocent people, they didn't believe in any religion because they thought of themselves as gods, religion is 15% good deeds and 85% pain, it is simply past it's sell by date.

Plus, the bible isn't a recording, it is a story, made up by a man who wanted to rule a village in some far off land.

[JohnathanACE]

Why the hell are these idiots picking on Christians? It was moronic leftists and feminists that got the game banned, Christians have nothing to do with it. Its ironic that they're dong the exact same thing they're mad about to a group that did absolutely nothing to them.

[paul-p1988]

I personally think it's to prove a point that there are various texts and forms of media that have violence contained in them but no-one bats an eyelid, yet computer games get accused of causing mass-shootings/rapes/acts of mindless violence on a daily basis.

All religious texts are full of violence, so this could just as easily have been applied to any other religion. Unless Islam has overtaken it by now, I think Christianity is still the most popular religion in the world, so I would guess that is why they picked it for this campaign.

[ThatOneGuyThere]

reading about violence that once happened != simulated player controlled violence. I'm not saying GTA5 causes any sort of aggression issues, I own GTA and if i thought that it would somehow impact my mental health I would not have purchased it.

[Cueil]

The Bible preaches peace though...

[Rhaigun]

I've never heard of anyone starting a war or killing someone in the name of GTA. Happens with religion all the time.

[Spartacus10]

Because the majority of Australians are Christians so that way they can show more people the irony.

Even if they used another religion, there would still be someone questioning why they used that, so theres no way they were going to win in that context.

[Pogmathoin]

Australia gave us Mad Max.... The irony......

Spart, maybe, who cares.... They never pulled that movie from its shelves, did they? Yet more gruesome things happened to women in that movie...

[Spartacus10]

@ Pogmathoin
Yeah because Mad Max is as popular as christianity isnt it?

[pompombrum]

The logic is fight satire with satire.. at least that's the best conclusion I came up with.

[uth11]

I'm not sure that it's a serious effort. I think it may be to mock the GTA thing.

[Rachel_Alucard]

The comments on the petition are the best part!

Adolf Hitler:
It inspired me to kill 6 million jews!

[rainslacker]

Would have been better to start a petition asking target and K-Mart to just start selling the game again. I'm sure it'd get more signatures than the one asking them to stop.

[Dasteru]

They are not picking on christians specifically. They are making a point about how stupid it is to ban/remove something based on a few select people taking offence.

[refocusedman]

Has it really gotten to the point where people worship videogames as an alternative. Smh.....

[G20WLY]

An alternative to what? A book? Yeah, that would be madness! /s

People can believe whatever the they want to. Who are you or I to judge?

[SteamPowered]

An alternative to what? Another cult telling you about the riches of the afterlife? It's 2014 already and we are still hung up on religion? When will society advance and leave religion and it's prejudices behind?

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

What ever happened to free speech and freedom to choose? People have the right to read the bible and people have the right to play GTA V. As long as a person's actions are within the confines of the law, they have the right to do what ever they want to do.

[stuna1]

Sadly this will only get worse considering that even here in the United States the Constitution is under attack. More and more the freedom to say or, do what is within the confines of the laws and Constitution are being rewritten.

[Gamble20]

This isn't a question of whether you have the "freedom" to play the game or read the Bible. Regardless of the retailers decisions, you do have that option.

This is a decision by individual (albeit large and more Liberal) retailers not to carry the game so that they don't lose customers in a boycott. Are those retailers being overly sensitive to radical feminists groups? Absolutely. But this isn't a political issue or an issue of freedom. It's an issue of whether Target is stupid or not.

[JohnathanACE]

The fact that they went along with it and banned it says yes they are stupid. Very very stupid.

[Testfire]

The first sensible post. A store is not obligated to carry any particular item for sale. Going to change.org is a complete waste of time as well as a misinformed and misguided action. If they wanted to do something, boycott Target or KMart. The change has to come from corporations not bowing to the will of liberals.

[Th4Freak]

I disagree, this is political and an attack to the freedom. Remember that GTA 5 was being sold in the store until this group of people pushed their agenda.

Now, you could say that this isn't political but don't look at it as if all this is just about a video game because its not, this is about pushing a totalitarian posture to the society.

If this happened with Target and GTA V it could happen with anything else tomorrow, think about it, look at the big picture of the issue and you will see that this represents a big problem to the society and its freedom.

[stuna1]

I agree with you, but at the same time I'd like to point out it definitely is more too it than certain store decision not to carry a certain product! Especially if said stores have carried said product beforehand. Look at it from a different perspective for example; the banning of tobacco products at the majority of public establishment, parks and restaurant's. Companies refusal to hire people who smoke use tobacco products, even when they do so only at home. The requirements of certain employers requiring access to employee's or, potential employee's social meia accounts How about companies changing out there vending machines to replace the content with foods that they think are healthier for their employee's or removing fried foods from their cafeteria menu's. I could go on and on! But the point I'm trying to make is these ideas started of small too.First one business decided to change things , next thing you know everyone is following suit.

So when something like this does catch on, in essence your freedom of choice is being taken away! Because then your options become limited.

[dmeador]

They do have that right, but stores also have a right to not sale certain things in their store. This doesn't have anything to do with free speech

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

Stores have a right to choose what they sell and people have the right to ask people to boycott the Bible.

Seems like free speech to me...

[dmeador]

@IGiveHugs

I regards to asking people not to do something, yes. I was referring to a store not having to sale a certain item in their store. I dont think that falls under freedom of speech.

[ThatOneGuyThere]

Australia != USA

[dasbeer88]

Sorry man, our freedom of speech went down the drain after the attacks of 9/11.

Go complain to those morons who made bomb jokes at their national airports.

[Dan50]

Australia has no documents or anything that allows the freedom of speech, government censors and controls all art forms.

[IIFloodyII]

This isn't going to end well is it?
I'm out, GTA5 shouldn't have been pulled, but this isn't going to change the fact it did.

[Spartacus10]

I would agree with them.

Atleast GTA has the correct rating labels and warnings on the packaging and is clearly selling itself as a form of virtual entertainment.

At the end of the day, the fact is more crimes are committed in the name of god than in the name of video games.

If someone has a problem with games then logically they should have a problem with a hundred other things before that.

[Hercules189]

The truth is God didn't ask for the crusades or any of the recent major wars.

[KingWookiee]

But he did do mass genocides and if he was real, considering he can see into the past, present, and future, the fact that he stopped none of the bad things from happening, created the angel that would turn into the devil even though he knew it would happen.

[Muadiib]

Exactly and in fact they contradict the bible, Kingwookie below thinks he knows better than God, you really can't have a meaningful debate with arrogance like that.

There are smart people that have actually thought through the moronic points he made, if God stopped all bad we would be nothing but automatons, our free will is the greatest gift God gave humanity when He created us.

If God let rebellion stop Him create sentient beings then He would never create any, to say He shouldn't have made Lucifer for example because He knew he would rebel is to let evil win in a way.

Lucifer was around possibly millions of years before he rebelled, what a gift he was given. I like that God haters find rebellion a reason to hate on God, a being that has never rebelled and never done wrong, only good.

People don't realise this life is a test and will determine who we will be and where we will spend it for eternity. Instead of overriding free will or just being a coward and not creating at all, God is instead using the evil to perfect the righteous.

[KingWookiee]

I love blind idiots like Muadiib, believes in a "god" who lets children die, who lets people starve to death, who lets people bomb others, who promotes hate against certain life styles. You don't live life to make something of yourself, you live life to make sure when you die you get into heaven, a place with no evidence exists but a fucking book that told you so. I bet you believe in creationism too, a thing proven wrong over and over, don't you think a book based off god (supposed creator of the earth) would know that the earth isn't flat, that the moon isn't it's own source of light, that the sun does not rise and lower and the earth isn't the center of the universe. Don't you think that the person who created this place would know how it works? But don't worry, people roamed with dinosaurs 6000 years ago and a woman was created from the rib of a male. XD How do you not know how stupid you guys sound. But I bet your response to this will be the same as every other blinded religious person... "god works in mysterious ways"

[VanguardOfCalamity]

all things considered... This was the best line in the article

"Another petition attacks Super Mario Bros for promoting “wilful murder of wildlife, consumption of hallucinogenic flora and collection of income without declaration of tax.”"

[pumpactionpimp]

I actually read that out loud to my wife. Thought it was a hilariously brilliant line.

[Rebel_Scum]

lol who cares. No one in Australia shops for games at Kmart or Target anyways. They go to Jb Hi Fi, EB Games or do it online.

[PlayableGamez]

EB Games still exist?

[Dyldog69]

I have GTA 5 and am enjoying it very much. So should you as it is part of the world at large.

[XabiDaChosenOne]

So Grand theft auto fans don't know how to read, gotcha.

[Sathur]

I have made it clear before that I do not like GTA5 even though I have played and enjoyed all the previous games. The fact is that the game this time around is seen to be too realistic...and gives you no other choice than to be bad, badder or baddest. where is the good character, the moral choices?
I returned my copy to the shop the next day....why?..Did you visit the bars,cinemas etc. The overall theme of GTA5 is set in the gutter and stays there.
I welcome the ban. it should have been toned down and a choice of a good character should have been added.
I enjoy open world shoot em ups like most people and went for Watch Dogs on Wii U instead. The first thing that I did in Watch Dogs was prevent a woman from being mugged and was hailed a hero before running someone over by accident. I have yet to find the kind of bars and cinemas you see in GTA5 in Watch Dogs. I can and do play a good guy in Watch Dogs...I have the choice.
I hope future games don't try to emulate GTA5. where are we heading if this becomes the staple diet of gamers in the future. GTA5 leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

[ThatOneGuyThere]

actually, you can play as a taxi driver and just give people rides. you can also stop muggings. I stopped a guy the other day who stole a bike and gave it back to its rightful owner. you can play golf, race, hunt, eliminate gangs, play tennis, do yoga and more. The only part that requires you to kill is the story. Watchdogs also requires you to kill A LOT of people. In watchdogs you play a murderous vigilante. Just because you feel sorry for him losing his niece doesn't mean the main character is a good person. You literally walk around the city listening in, and sometimes watching, people's private lives and stealing their money. When you took that 5,000 from that man walking down the street you didn't think twice that you may have just stolen his son's college money. You watched that man shoot himself in his apartment when you could have stopped it. You could have rung his doorbell. The protagonist in Watchdogs is a horrible person.

I do agree that GTA would be cool if they would let you pick between a "good guy" and a "bad guy" in the next version. I would prefer that to playing 3 bad characters at the same time.

[jrshankill]

Sir, you had the choice to return the game and you did so.

The problem is, no one wants your beliefs pushed on them. That is exactly what you are doing in this post.

Sorry, but it is complete self-righteous bulls**t

[Gamer777]

This is ironic cause GTA 5 is getting removed form shelves yet the bible is full of violence,sexism,bigotry and misogyny but is given to children for free.....

[Sathur]

but if you read it through until the end, it tells you not to do any of those things or else.

[Gamer777]

Or else you go to hell blah blah. Alot of the violence, bigotry and misogyny in the bible is encouraged or caused by God's will.

[comebackkid9891]

In what country is it still given to children to read? Nowadays public schools serve a steady diet of cultural marxism, revisionist history, and subterfuge.

[Tex117]

Its amazing that the the satirical commentary of GTA is completely lost on most casual onlookers. (and many players for that matter).

Gamespot posted a video talking about the difference between FPS and TPS and how it can really change the connection a player has to the world.

All of this really raises the question of "are video games different from books or movies, and if so, how..."

Stemming from this debate also highlights the potential for greatness of video games. You are more connected to the content...connected to the art and thus can give a platform for a whole new experience far beyond that of a movie and even a book.

[Muadiib]

The bible merely describes violence, it never encourages it, quite the contrary. The GTA series does more than describe it, it encourages you to enact it, albeit in a virtual world I'm not saying to ban it despite the fact I can't stand the series though, also why pick on the true religion of peace anyway, there's a perfectly good warlike religion out there, it's book prescribes violence as well. As usual they pick on the people that don't bite back.

[rainslacker]

ummm...I have to disagree. There are plenty of instances in the bible with horrendous violence, some of it condoned as righteous. The plagues on Egypt, God asking Abraham to kill Isaac(regardless of reason that just screwed up and is the one thing that made me say that I can't worship a God that would ask someone to do that), the great flood, God killing Judah's first born, everything that God did to the egyptians, Revelations has all sorts of violence that is either condoned or God looks the other way.

Heck, that's just what I can think of off the top of my head, I'm sure if I did research I could use up all my bubbles and still not go over it all.

Most of the moral codes in the bible are great to live by, but it's not exactly a kids fairy tale.

[comebackkid9891]

Religion exists in a vacuum w/o dogma, and today the dogma of martyrdom and female genital mutilation far outweigh radical notions of resting on sunday.

- coming from an athiest.

[SilentNegotiator]

How are any of the things you listed contrary? They're all acts of God, not encouragements of violence.

[rainslacker]

Just because they're acts of God does not mean they aren't violent acts. God doesn't get a free pass on violence IMO.

I guess in the vein of the original poster though, it doesn't really encourage it in my examples, except maybe the Abraham and Isaac story depending on how you want to look at it.

Dunno if I care to get into a theological discussion about it though, it's one of those things that just doesn't seem to end well.

[SilentNegotiator]

"I guess in the vein of the original poster though, it doesn't really encourage it in my examples"

Which was entirely my point.

[rainslacker]

@Silent

Fair enough then. I don't care to really think harder on the subject, nor do any research into it. Just thought the original poster was being a bit disingenuous saying that the bible doesn't encourage violence. I suppose a lot of it is really in the interpretation, as some of the things I said, as well as others I didn't mention did require the participation of man, which could be like saying, "If God says to do it, then it's OK to commit violence".

[kaozgamer]

"One petition even said Target’s name and logo were “aggressive”." - LOL

[Underworld]

I don't think they're serious, they're just trying to make a point. There's a petition asking them to remove Fifty Shades of Grey too. Just to make a point.

There's a serious petition asking Target and Kmart to restock GTA 5. It already has over 17000 signatures. Please sign and share.

https://www.change.org/p/ta...

[quenomamen]

Satan doesn't mind if you play violent video games, and he doesn't demand you beg for forgiveness either.

[saviboy]

What happened to freedom of speech? this is no different than the fundamentalists who killed artists for criticizing the Coran. Preposterous.

[Phoenix76]

Serious question, is this article meant to be satire in response to the banning?

[ScaryMonkey]

One little note the women complaining about this game might want to consider, you can beat a kill men in it too. Maybe if you could pay for sex with men in the game as well these women would have nothing to complain about, oh wait who am I kidding.

[SenZjo]

So now one gamer is gonna attack another gamer because a game got pulled..., dont get me wrong i hate whats going on in australia atm but it is also seeding dislike for certain games among the gamer community... i find this REALLY bad...

[MCTJim]

Small fact of the matter is that if they are so offended by the violence towards women, why not target(pun intended)the actual people committing these acts? Protest outside the wife beaters house..I think that it would be more effective than getting a video game banned from a store that sells just as violent DVD/Blu Ray movies. Target caved when they should have just stayed silent. Target is being hypocritical in their decision.

[urwifeminder]

People do stuff just move on.

[Stardust260]

How come no one's able to tell this is a satire?
It's literally a parallel of the GTA petition.

[zpoc]

everyone is able to tell this is satire. that's the whole point.

[T2X]

Actually, you can read all the religious texts you want, and believe whatever you would like. But, it doesn't change the fact that nobody knows anything about what happens when you die. To the spirit anyway. And THAT is the funny thing about people, they'll kill and mock and ostracize others for not believing in something even they are not positive about. We will all find out one day one way or another.

[jholden3249]

The Bible is the Word of God. Jesus said "unless you believe that I am He (the Christ) you will die in your sins.

[zpoc]

cool story, bro

[kingPoS]

Man... now they've gone and Involved religion in to the GTA dispute, what's next, car manufacturers suing because the game's cars look like theirs.

Gateway MT6706 2008

[keegamer80]

I guess this is one negative side of digital! They can just patch it! I'm not trying to offend anyone! I just don't think they should be able to edit your game! Updated are one thing! This is a different story!

[zpoc]

gta v has nothing to do with gamergate - i find it irritating that the article tries to lump this in with that.

[wannabe gamer]

this is ridiculous.....