Dungeons and Dragons; A Controversial Game.

If you live in the southern part of the United States, then you've probably noticed on Wednesday evenings church parking lots fill with worshippers hoping to get the mid-week refresher of their indoctrination of choice. The godless heathen I am, I prefer a different mid-week activity. 

Wednesday evenings, my friends and I prefer to play a wonderful role-playing game known as Dungeons & Dragons. Created in the 1970s, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) stirred up quite the controversy and added fuel to the "satanic panic" of the 70s and 80s. 

Before you read any further, I should inform you, this particular blog entry isn't meant to be scientific or provide proof of anything, it is purely speculation from the perspective of a former Baptist, who is now an atheist. That is all. I decided to do this quick blog because it is a Wednesday evening at the time of writing and posting, and this week's session got canceled. That is all. For those that continue to read, I hope you enjoy my thoughts on the matter. 

Since its origins, D&D has stirred up quite a bit of hate from the religious crowd. That's not to say that all religious people hate D&D, but most do. They claim that it is the imagery in the game, and the magical elements that are "invoking demons" but a quick look at the bible, and an understanding of the information within shows that there is much worse imagery within that book. 

So, where is the hate coming from? 

D&D teaches cooperation, it fosters a love for reading, curiosity,  and a desire to question everything. It improves critical thinking skills, and social skills and creates a sense of community with a like-minded group of people. These are all things that are way more harmful to the church as a whole than any imagined demon or pretend magic could ever be. 

How dare people learn to cooperate with people different than them?! How can we teach them to hate those who are different? 

How dare people learn to love reading?! How will we keep them ignorant to everything other than what we want them to learn?

How dare people learn to be curious?! How will we keep them from learning the things we're hiding from them?

How dare people desire to question everything?! It's just a matter of time before they start questioning God!

How dare people improve their critical thinking?! They might break free of their indoctrination.

How dare people learn social skills and have a community outside of church?! How else are we going to keep them trapped?

Cooperation

If you look at the types of people who get in an uproar about Dungeons & Dragons, they are the same people who fight against the rights of the LGBT+ community, the same people who look down on people who are disabled or otherwise struggling in life, and a lot of them are the same people who continue to hang on to racist values. 

Teaching someone cooperation and acceptance of those who are different is one of the first steps in breaking away from the harmful stereotypes that they may have been taught. D&D teaches cooperation and to support each other's differences by showing that every member of the party has their own strengths and weaknesses.  

Reading and Curiosity

Learning to love reading and to have a sense of curiosity, will lead people to want to learn history, science, and anything they can really. This is problematic for Christianity because science directly disproves multiple aspects of the bible, and history shows what a horrid past Christianity has caused. It's honestly gross to think about.

D&D fosters a love for reading and improves reading comprehension because the game does require a fair amount of reading to play, from reading players' guides to the effects of different attacks and spells. And if you just so happen to be the Dungeon Master (the person who narrates and dictates the direction of the game among other things), like myself, you're reading adventure books and reading about the races and classes your players are playing as.

D&D also teaches curiosity, because the game is set up to reward curiosity. "what happens if I do this?" "What's in his hands?" "Is there anything I should know about...?" These types of questions come up multiple times a session, the whole point is to question. And most of the time, your curiosity is rewarded, either with a battle (which is part of the point of the game) or with some kind of loot.  

A Desire to Question Everything

This is a problem to Christianity because when people start questioning god, it is a slippery slope to skepticism and eventually atheism. Christians know that they don't have the answers, that they don't really know how to make the 2,000-year-old manuscripts answer today's questions. The thought that their children, their loved ones may start asking the hard questions, scares them. 

But as I mentioned in my paragraph about curiosity, a game that rewards asking questions, is going to teach people to question everything. Questions are literally asked at every step of the game. Questions result in players getting information they want, loot, battles, and assistance from allies. Questions move the game forward.

Improves Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze facts and evidence to form rational thoughts. This is detrimental to Christianity because once someone learns critical thinking, they will see that the evidence is stacked against religion, science disproves the validity of Christianity, history disproves the validity of Christianity, and that there is no evidence for god. When people learn critical thinking, it's just a matter of time before the rest comes tumbling down. 

Now, that's not to say that you can't be a Christian and play D&D. You can, many people do. A lot of people never apply their critical thinking skills to anything outside of D&D, and not all people who play are that good at the critical thinking part of it and rely heavily on other players to float them through the game.

D&D improves critical thinking, in the same way, it improves curiosity and question-asking, it rewards those who are able to analyze information that is given, and use it to their advantage. It rewards thinking about what to do based on the data that has been gathered. It rewards those who are willing to change their mind about something when presented with new information.  

Social Skills and a Sense of Community With a Like-Minded Group of People

Community is a big draw for churches and is something many people who leave the church miss. We are social creatures, even the most introverted of us, desire community. Not having that is detrimental to our mental health. That is part of why so many non-believers or skeptics stay in the church as long as they do, community. You have a group of people around you, a sense of belonging. Even if you don't really believe everything they do, when you're part of a church, you feel a sense of community.

D&D is played with a group of people, a small group typically consists of 3-4 people. Some groups reaching much higher numbers. But regardless of the size of your immediate group, you likely know other players. Either through playing in another group, or playing online, or just by being in the various online communities for talking about D&D. 

This provides a sense of community that someone who is already skeptical might desperately need. I don't think that just having a sense of community is going to be what pushes someone to leave the church, but if they already feel like they don't fit into that community, finding community elsewhere will be life-changing for them.

Yeah, all of this probably sounds like a pointless rant, but the skills that are gained from playing D&D have the potential to be the same skills that could make a person skeptical about their religion and potentially shun religion altogether.

If for some reason, you are reading this because you believe in God and you believe that D&D is demonic, what you are saying is that some plastic dice and pictures on a sheet of paper are stronger than your god. And ask yourself why you're giving this much power to paper and plastic? Because even though I said everything I did about how D&D can affect someone's beliefs, there are many people who play who are still Christians. And at the end of the day, your reactions to someone playing this game are going to make them wonder why you're so upset about the game. Because trust me, it's not the imagery or magic. 

Thanks for reading. If you’ve enjoyed this, don’t forget to like and comment,  and follow me on Facebook, or help me buy more books to read, and remember; question everything and never stop learning.