RELIGION is a HOBBY

[Taverner]

I mean seriously. Religion is a hobby, no different than Dungeons and Dragons, or any other Role Playing Game. And kept in that context, its safe. It's when people think of religion being something BEYOND hobby that I get scared. A suicide bomber killing thousands for the love of Allah, Christians denying science to please the baby Jeezus, and etc.

How could it not - ask any casual believer what they would do if God spoke to them and told them to kill their children. They (hopefully) will start getting Psychiatry in a hurry. Obviously the hobby isn't fun anymore. Take a fundie or true believer, however and they might actually try to kill their children. How do I know? Google Andrea Yates. It's all there.

[ZombieHorde]

1. Dungeons & Dragons is way cooler than any religion. nt

[trotsky]

2. It is good to bring up Andrea Yates.

All the Christians and po-mo'ers who admonish us for not "respecting" the beliefs of others and acknowledging that everyone has the right to the reality they want, have a big problem on their hands when it comes to people like Andrea Yates.

[onager]

4. Yates had an Egyptian equivalent.

A man with seven daughters. He went on a rampage one day and killed his wife and 5 of the children. When arrested, he said he killed his wife because she couldn't give him a son. He killed 5 of his daughters because he "didn't like females."

This was Egypt, so we didn't get the usual American parade of grandstanding TV psycho-babblers and reality-show idiots trying to figure out which of his childhood traumas caused the rampage. He was given a speedy trial and an even speedier hanging.

[backscatter712]

3. There is a difference between D&D and religion...

With D&D, the participants know the difference between fantasy and reality...

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. Well, usually.

There's some gamers I've known, over the past 30 years...