You Play WHAT?! - Part 2: The History and Controversies over Dungeons and Dragons

Originally written in 2016

Dungeons and Dragons, the infamous tool of Satan masquerading as an innocent board game that will introduce your children to the occult, consume their souls, possess them with demons, lead them to participate in satanic ritual abuse, and then make then commit suicide.

No punches held, this is what Dungeons and Dragons is famous for in parts of the Evangelical subconsciousness. This is the shadowy picture many a conservative Christian has grown up with (myself included) and even in some pockets outside of the Church DnD maintains a negative stigma as that strange game that kids lock themselves down in basements to play for hours on end. Is it really all fun and games or is there something sinister going on? My goal in this article is to explore and evaluate the history of and controversy surrounding Dungeons and Dragons.

First and foremost on the list of controversies to evaluate is Dungeons and Dragons' dark spiritual past. Does DnD introduce players to the occult? Is it associated with demons or Satanic Ritual Abuse? Are DnD players more likely to commit suicide?

A Brief History of Dungeons and Dragons

In order to answer this question satisfactorily we must take a long road and explore the history of Dungeons and Dragons and evidences associated with these dangers. The origins of Dungeons and Dragons had nothing to do with the occult, magic, demons, satanic ritual abuse, sex, or suicide. The creators; Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, and Jeff Perren (TSR Hobbies) were inspired by the old Avalon Hill style war games in which players controlled different pieces on a board to simulate squads of WWI, WWII infantry, tanks, artillery, planes, and ships and a system of mathematics using probability (rolling dice) to determine simulated combat between these pieces. The first edition of Dungeons and Dragons (1974) was an alteration of these war games whereby players controlled one piece (their hero) and they worked together against enemy pieces (the monsters) which were controlled by the game leader and a similar system of mathematics using probability to determine simulated combat between these pieces.

The game received a lot of attention in 1979 when a young DnD player, James Dallas Egbert III, mysteriously vanished from his dormitory at Michigan State University. Nobody had ever heard of Dungeons and Dragons before and the private investigator speculated that it may have had something to do with the disappearance. The media grabbed a hold of this story and the board game suddenly morphed into a bizarre live action fantasy psychological game played in the tunnels of a boiler room where the players willed themselves to think and act like their characters to the point where they could not distinguish reality from unreality. Egbert was assumed to have been injured or murdered during a live action fantasy session that went wrong. This was later revealed to have not been the case, Egbert had severe depression and had attempted suicide in the steam tunnels under the school but failed and traveled about until contacting the investigator a year later. The media's reporting on the incident inspired the movies Mazes and Monsters (1982) and Skulduggery (1983) which solidified the urban legend that DnD put players into an altered state of consciousness so they could not distinguish reality from unreality and laid the foundation for the other urban legend that DnD was a tool of the devil to transform young minds to become serial killers.

Despite the rough media introduction (or maybe because of it) Dungeons and Dragons was a huge hit on college campuses and as time progressed TSR Hobbies created more material for Dungeons and Dragons including more character types, advanced rules involving more complicated mathematics, and more monster types. By 1979 'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' was complete with a total of three core rule books and a handful of pre-made adventures as accessories. By 1982 DnD was selling 1200 copies a month and had found its way to computer games and popular media.

Then, in 1984, there was a tragic incident that sparked all of the Christian spiritual objections to Dungeons and Dragons. On June 9 Irving Pulling, a young man, committed suicide.

Irving enjoyed playing Dungeons and Dragons and his mother, Patricia Pulling, blamed the game for his death claiming that the other players had put a curse on him. She founded the anti-DnD advocacy group "Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons" (BADD) and began publishing all manner of accusatory material claiming the game was involved with Satanism, the occult, cannibalism, human sacrifice, demon possession, and other distinct forms of evil. Pulling considered herself an occultist expert and lead the charge against what she perceived to be rampant underground Satanism in America. Parallel to this movement ran the anti-Satanic Ritual Abuse advocates who had already planted the belief in conservative Christian culture that the aforementioned rampant underground Satanism existed in America with their own writing campaign and put a lot of people on high alert creating the perfect environment for BADD's accusations to gain traction.

Pulling published dozens of stories about how people playing Dungeons and Dragons became possessed by demons, kidnapped and murdered children, participated in orgies, sorcery, idol worship, and every other Old Testament sin that would horrify modern sensibilities and bring down the thunder from conservative pulpits. The legend was born, Dungeons and Dragons was not just a board game, it was a Satanic tool of spiritual destruction and moral decay and the story was taken up by self proclaimed cult investigators, and conservative Christian groups like Chick Publishers and the National Coalition of Television Violence (NCTV).

By 1990 BADD's credibility along with the credibility of the anti-Satanic Ritual Abuse movement were being questioned, critiqued, and found destitute. Pulling and her following were publicly exposed in the Stackpole - Pulling Report for grossly misinterpreting and making up facts, using unreliable and illegal investigative and publishing methods, taking advantage of mentally unstable 'witnesses,' and being completely uninformed about even the most basic elements of a real Dungeons and Dragons gaming session. The American Association of Suicidology, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Welfare Canada, and other such institutions had unanimously concluded that there was no causal link between fantasy role playing games and suicide. As further scrutiny and investigation was applied to Pulling and her allies their credibility collapsed like a house of cards never to be rebuilt but the wild and incredible stories lived on in the hearts and minds of many conservatives.

TSR continued to publish a host of material including a third edition of the game, extra source books, miniatures, and video games. Aside from some failed lawsuits against sthem they remained largely unaffected by the moral panic of the 80s except for deciding to change the names of some of the monsters (demons and devils) and then making a resurgence into popular culture shortly thereafter.

CHIC Publications, published William Schnoebelem's "Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons" in an attempt to champion the dying cause. CHIC's warcry was answered in 1995 by Jeff Freeman's "Concerns that Christians should have about Dungeons and Dragons" which, aside from laying out arguments in favor of Christians playing Dungeons and Dragons, criticized Schnoebelem's article for being based on ignorance and misinformation and for outright lying to everyone. Freeman's rebuttal was answered by Schneobelem in 2001 with another CHIC publication "Should a Christian Play Dungeons and Dragons" which is currently the definitive article in support of BADD's claims.

Like other conspiracy theories everything published by BADD its allies and the anti-SRA movement is questionable at best. It does not hold up against basic fact finding and the psychological methods they employed to get confessions (hypnosis for example) have long since been debunked.

Even so, the questions still remain. Is DnD associated with the Occult? Are players at risk of being manipulated by demons? Has it ever been associated with actual Satanic Ritual Abuse? Are players at more risk of committing suicide?

The problem with going forward from here is that nearly all evidence in favor of these accusations is anecdotal and can not be connected to real life persons or happenings. How much anecdotal evidence has its roots in BADD's anti-DnD publishing campaign? "Nearly all of it" may be a realistic assessment. BADD made as big a splash as it could and now the water is still murky twenty six years later.

Even though BADD and SRA proved to be a farce I can not completely throw out anecdotal evidence regarding demon possessions and other similar encounters involving Dungeons and Dragons. As an Evangelical Christian I believe in the Bible and I believe in the existence of spiritual beings. I have also had personal encounters with the demonic and have performed two exorcisms on different occasions (anyone who hopes to do one of these is either specifically gifted or has never done one before). My convictions and my experience tell me that the occult, demons, abuse, and motivations toward suicide are all real issues. I want to take these accusations and evaluate them as fairly and objectively as I am able.

Sorcery and the Occult in Dungeons and Dragons

Does DnD teach the Occult? No. All of the source books for every edition of Dungeons and Dragons ever produced are available for download online. If you were to read through every single one of these books cover to cover you would not learn any authentic sorcery or occult practices. At no point has any creator, author, or publisher for Dungeons and Dragons ever tried to sneak teaching the Occult, sorcery, or Satanism into the game material. How could they? They were nerds not warlocks. Schnoebelem claims that the game makers came to him in the 80s (when he was a warlock) to make their rituals as authentic as possible, but he doesn't give any references and nobody has been able to find what rituals he was referring to. If there were authentic occult teachings or rituals in any version of DnD then it would have been spotted by now and the proponents of this accusation (Schnoebelem especially) could point to a physical book and page cross referenced with an actual book of the occult but this has never been done.

This perceived danger comes from two sources. First and foremost it comes from BADD's baseless assertions popularized by Chick Publishing's Dark Dungeons tract. Secondly it comes from a misunderstanding of High Fantasy. High Fantasy is a fictional setting inspired by ancient mythologies and modern classics such as J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. There are heroes and villains, knights and monsters, dragons, and demons, and devils, and demigods. There are wizards, sorcerers, druids, and eastern mystic monks. All of these things (save for heroes and maybe knights) are expressly forbidden in the Bible and all of these things are 100% fiction in Dungeons and Dragons, ie: not real. The players are not literally casting spells at each other, they are rolling dice and doing complex math. Playing a sorcerer in DnD teaches as much sorcery as playing Axis and Allies teaches you how to kill with a Lee-Enfield MK III rifle or how to drive a Panzer IV.

Darkest Dungeons - CHIC Tract

Could players become tempted to pursue the Occult or sorcery? Sure I guess. Exposure to High Fantasy (like Science Fiction) broadens your mind and introduces you to a host of new ideas and concepts, that's one of the reasons why its so fun. Small children and Christians who are ungrounded in their faith may be at risk of being swayed this way or that way as the wind blows and so may be tempted to attempt actual real life sorcery but in my experience the individual who goes to pursue magic already had a fascination and exposure to it long before playing Dungeons and Dragons. The inoculation against this is very simple; don't mistake the fiction of a game to be reality. In addition to this be grounded in your faith, know the Scriptures, teach your children wisdom. If you find out that the people you are playing with are actually trying to use Dungeons and Dragons as a vehicle for teaching real magic (BADD's greatest accusation and something so extremely unlikely that I can barely conceive of it happening) then stop playing with them, warn players that were unaware, and document the incident because you will have just found the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Demonic and Dungeons and Dragons

Are DnD players at risk of having demonic activity in their lives? No, provided the players don't do anything to provoke demonic activity while playing Dungeons and Dragons. This is a topic that I take seriously. Playing Dungeons and Dragons as it is intended to be played does not involve anything that should encourage demonic activity. Getting carried away with your role playing in Dungeons and Dragons to the point where you are physically and verbally involved in such activity goes well beyond the material of the game. Avoiding this should be obvious to the point where nobody should even have to mention how. Don't use Dungeons and Dragons as an medium to call upon or attempt to summon actual real life demons. Nowhere anywhere at any time is this encouraged or mentioned or are players given even vague instructions for how to do this in any of the DnD source material ever created.

There are monsters in Dungeons and Dragons that are called 'demons' but they are not at all related to actual fallen angels rebelling with Lucifer against The Lord God Almighty. The 'demon' monsters in DnD are, like all monsters in DnD, quite literally a collection of statistics for players to roll dice against. What the statistics represent, if you are role playing as a character, are a series of hostile physical creatures who come from one of several 'hells' which in High Fantasy are different planes of existence. At their worst they are basically the Balrog from Lord of the Rings, which Gandalf referred to as "an ancient demon of the underworld;" a big scary monster made of fire that you should probably run away from. Biblical demons are quite different by comparison and no real parallel or likeness can be maintained between them except to say that they are both evil creatures and share the name of 'demon.' (See below for what a Dungeons and Dragons 'demon' actually looks like)

There are also 'spells' in Dungeons and Dragons that allow players to 'summon' monsters to come fight for them, some of the monsters summoned can be the aforementioned 'demons'. Just as DnD 'demons' bare no resemblance to actual real life demons so too do summoning spells bear no resemblance to actual occult rituals used to summon actual real life demons. All spells in Dungeons and Dragons, like all monsters in Dungeons and Dragons, are quite literally rows of statistics used by players to mathematically determine the success or failure of what their imaginary characters are attempting to do. Here is a picture of the summoning spell in question.

Suicide and Dungeons and Dragons

Suicide, the incident that sparked moral outcry against Dungeons and Dragons in the first place. The concern here is that those who play Dungeons and Dragons can get too attached to their characters or enter into a non-reality to the point where if their character dies in game the player will be unable to cope with the loss and be driven to commit suicide. The history here is once again BADD's assertions that this was an issue which then become popularized by Chick Publishers' Dark Dungeons Track. Is this an actual issue? No. Has it ever actually happened? Weldon and Bjornstad's Playing with Fire: Dungeons and Dragons claims that it has at least once or twice. I have not personally done the research to verify the validity of these claims except to say that the American Association of Suicidology, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Health and Welfare Canada (and dozens of societies and universities since) had done the research for us and unanimously concluded that there was no causal link between fantasy role playing games and suicide. It is widely understood that Irving Pulling's suicide was not due to over attachment or involvement in Dungeons and Dragons or because any curse that was supposedly put upon him. Both he and James Egbert struggled with depression which was not widely understood at the times of their deaths.

This is a strange myth. Any sane person will overcome the loss of their fictional character, create a new character, and maybe be inspired to write stories, poems, or songs of their fictional deeds. Anyone who has trouble coming to grips with such a loss was either already dealing with some heavy issues in their life or was otherwise mentally unstable. It is worth mentioning that at the time when this accusation was first made suicide was not understood or talked about in society, especially in conservative Evangelical circles, and so Dungeons and Dragons became an easy scapegoat.

The reality is quite the opposite, playing Dungeons and Dragons (and other fantasy role playing games) reduces the risk of suicide. It is a psychologically provable fact that role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons are healthy for those who are under stress or in the midst of depression. It gives a temporary escape away from the stress and depression into a world where they are the hero and they are able to laugh and play with friends. It gets them out of the negative head space long enough to regain a more objective view on life and stop the cycle of depression that leads to suicide. This was one of the reasons why young college students like Egbert and Pulling were drawn to Dungeons and Dragons in the first place and why I lead my own DnD campaign, inviting the players that I did.

Dungeons and Dragons as an Introduction to Pornography

This is not an argument that I have actually heard before but it is one that I have. Our North American culture sexualizes everything and High Fantasy is no exception. The official Dungeons and Dragons material is pretty tame but if you ever look online for images related to Dungeons and Dragons or High Fantasy (for character concepts, inspiration, or building your own DnD session) some searches will yield user generated blends of High Fantasy and sexual fantasy. For a mature ('strong') Christian that can filter what their eyes see this may not be an issue but for young men and women with young sex drives ('weak') this is a potential gateway towards porn addition. For safer browsing (though not completely safe) try http://char-portraits.tumblr.com/ (female characters)

Dungeons and Dragons and other Bad Influences

Dungeons and Dragons sessions take on the flavor of the players involved. The activities of the characters, the stories, the jokes, and the general table banter are all determined by who's sitting around the table. Who you spend time with will affect you after a while. Take an evening and read the Book of Proverbs and then do as it says; don't keep company with fools and then apply the lesson to who you play DnD with.

Playing Dungeons and Dragons is not Compatible with Christian Faith

William Schnoebelen

This is the criticism championed by William Schnoebelem in his two Chick Publications "Straight Talk on Dungeons and Dragons (1992)" and "Should a Christian play Dungeons and Dragons? (2001)" (go ahead and give him a read, his arguments epitomize the views in 90's conservative Evangicalism for why a Christian should not play Dungeons and Dragons) Even though I disagree with Schnoebelem and find elements of his story extremely unlikely I respect the Christian tradition he represents. His second article is far better than the first and wrestling through this material for years refined my own thinking and position on the issue. When you strip away his references to BADD's baseless assertions (nearly everything in the first article) he is accusing Dungeons and Dragons of 1) a slippery slope where anyone playing, even with the very best of intentions, will inevitably end up participating in immoral activity that is forbidden in Scripture and 2) the game acting as a medium for anti-Christian ideas.

His primary concern has to do with the role of the mind and imagination. He argues that it is openly sinful to think about many of the activities that DnD characters do. His argument plays out like this. If you play a rogue for example, your character may stab someone in the back or steal from an NPC. Stabbing in the back and stealing are sinful acts. You the player had to conceive of them in your mind before your character could do them. BAM! The game got you to use your mind to conceive of acts contrary to the rules and statutes of God as laid out in the Holy Bible. You could have used your mind to worship God and bring him glory, instead you created new ways to sin and are now fantasizing about that sinful activity and gleefully sharing it with the other players. As if that wasn't bad enough it's only a matter of time before you start acting like your character and begin stealing in real life!

I object to this reasoning on several counts. First and foremost I object to Schnoebelem's understanding of sins of the mind as such reasoning is nowhere found in the Bible (see this list of verses that have to do with thought and the mind). We are instructed to set our minds upon what is good and godly (Col 3.1-2; Phil 4:8), allow the Holy Spirit to transform our minds, not conforming to the ways of the world (Rom 12:1-2), and to not allow our thoughts to lead us to sinful activity (Jam 1:14-15; Rom 6:12; 7:23-25). The only time where the Bible address thoughts as sinful in and of themselves is Jesus' teaching concerning lustful thoughts (Mat 5:28) and this is precisely where CHIC and Schnoebelem attempts to make a non sequitur connection between lustful thoughts and role playing games.

One of the verses that Schnoebelem uses is 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 which he applies to Dungeons and Dragons as a medium for ideas that are in opposition to the knowledge of God.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete." (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

My response to this is that the ideas and worldviews in Dungeons and Dragons; the stabbing things in the back, stealing, fictional magic, monsters, pantheon of gods, moral alignment system, and anything and everything Schnoebelem takes issue with only become 'lofty ideas raised against the knowledge of God,' if you let them by taking them seriously; that is to say, become unable to discern fictitious play from reality, as if understanding and playing with a worldview different from your own somehow nullified it. Schnoebelem would probably argue back that it can and does happen subconsciously regardless of our division of fiction and reality and that we should not "give the Devil a foothold" in our minds. I would argue that playing Dungeons and Dragons does not "give the Devil a foothold" and maintain that the division of fantasy and reality is the key. The human mind / spirit is capable of this first of all as a natural ability bestowed by God from creation as a provable psychological fact, secondly as indicative of our being created in the image of God, and third as part of the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. According to the Bible we have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control (2 Tim 1:7), and we can take thoughts captive instead of being captive to them (1 Cor 10:5).

My second objection to Schnoebelem's article is his overemphasis of the power of Satan and that the freedom believers have in Christ did not enter into his equation. Christians of all stripes have incredible freedom in Christ to say as Paul did "All things are lawful for me but I will not be dominated by anything." (1 Cor 6:12; see also 10:23-31). This freedom is to be used responsibly to the glory of God and is in part determined by the believers' conscience as well as the consciences of the other believers around them. Paul uses the dichotomy of the weak and the strong where 'strong' believers are allowed to eat food sacrificed to idols because they know that the food is just food and that idols are just lumps of rock, whereas the 'weak' believer would stumble in his faith because he believes that the food has been defiled and that the idols have demonic power. The 'strong' should live in his strength eating and drinking to the glory of God but should restrain himself for the sake of the 'weak' who may see him indulging and falter in his faith. (Rom 14; 1 Cor 10:23-31).

Christians have often used this understanding for how to handle 'gray issues' (like the use of alcohol for example) and I would apply it to Dungeons and Dragons as well. There's nothing wrong with Dungeons and Dragons; it is, as much as Schnoebelem denies it, just a game. I am coming at this from a position of 'strength' but for other believers who understand Dungeons and Dragons from a position of 'weakness' it would not be good for them to play because their conscience objects to something within the game as sinful. The 'strong' does no wrong for playing Dungeons and Dragons unless it is done in such a way to cause the 'weak' to stumble and the 'weak' does no wrong in avoiding Dungeons and Dragons as a matter of conscience so long as this avoidance doesn't attempt to force the 'strong' believer to obey the precepts their weak faith.

My third objection to Schnoebelem's position is his overemphasis on the importance of the mind and the need to censor it. He claims that the mind is the battlefield upon which the destiny of the soul is decided. I disagree and would argue that the battle was won over 2000 years ago by Jesus' death and resurrection and that the Word of God is not nearly as impeded by people playing make belief in a High Fantasy setting as he claims it is. I disagree with the whole fundamentalist movement to censor 'unchristian' ideas and establishing a Christendom thought control system lest uncontrolled ideas lead Christians astray from Christ or non-Christians to not find Christ. It never worked in the past and has a tendency to backfire, producing ill-equipped Christians, bitter Christians, and even more bitter Christian apostates. Christians should be established in their faith, grounded in the Scriptures, but not isolated from other ideas. There is a time to shelter young or new Christians for their benefit and growth but taken too far or for too long it becomes a stagnation and impediment to their faith. Nonbelievers are already in the world and of the world, it is futile to try and shelter them from it. What does it say about our faith if we are afraid of being exposed to other ideas? Is the Word of God so fragile or so incomprehensible that we must censor imaginative play? No! The Word of God is living and strong, and God is an excellent communicator. There is no need to scare people away from games that involve High Fantasy settings. If there was a need then forget Dungeons and Dragons and look instead to the rampant greed, lust, violence, and 'anti-Christian' worldviews currently presented in less abstract mediums; DnD is very tame by comparison to today's TV shows, movies, and video games.

My fourth objection to Schnoebelem's position is that if you take it to its logical conclusion then Christians must abstain from thinking about pretty much everything that is not God and the Bible. Dungeons and Dragons is out, video games are out, television shows are out, books that are not the Bible are out, serving as a police officer, doctor, or actor are out, nearly every type of music is out, martial arts are out, and don't even get me started on thinking about dating or your spouse! Schnoebelem's position on Dungeons and Dragons is one of impassioned fear and weakness that probably comes from his horrible experiences as one of the highest ranking practitioners of Satanism and the Occult in North America in the 80s. This is not a position that other Christians should live under though. We are adopted sons and daughters of the king of the universe in whose image we have been created as the masters of creation. Yes the human spirit was dealt a deforming blow by the curse of sin but God has shed his own blood to redeem us and now dwells within us by his Holy Spirit so now we can once again live as we were intended and not be blown this way or that way according to the winds of opinion or be taken captive by lofty ideas or allow sinful passions to persist in our minds. We can read books without mistaking ourselves or our motivations for those of the characters in those books, we can become professional actors and not damage our Christian identity, we can become doctors and not be carried away by lustful thoughts at the sight of exposed genitalia, we can be exposed to and explore the ideas and planes of high fantasy without being confused concerning the knowledge of God and we can play Dungeons and Dragons without sin. Christianity does not slink about hiding in the shadows afraid to think lest we get lost in our thoughts or become confused about God or demons take notice and swoop down to assault us.

Be certain though that you are sure of the knowledge of God; you must get your understanding from theologically reliable sources and maintain a strong life of faith cultivated by constant prayer and spiritual discipline. The freedom we have in Christ is freedom in the context of loving God with all our heart, strength, and mind. This is a matter of priorities and maturity. Keep Christ first in your life and heart and keep Dungeons and Dragons (as well as every other hobby / pastime) in its proper place in relation to Christ's lordship. Don't do as Schnoebelem fears, getting your knowledge of God and the world from High Fantasy fiction, stay with the Bible, go to a good church for constant teaching, community, and spiritual care, don't be conformed to the world but be renewed in your mind by feeding from the Word of God.

My fifth objection is the tone Schnoebelem and CHIC take on the issue. Any disagreement with their statements is taken out of context or used as evidence of game addiction, being anti-Christian, being in the pocket of the gaming industry, or some other reason for why a 'true Christian' will just ignore that argument and side with the publisher. This is the weakness of the combative conservative far right, a complete refusal to discuss the topic or admit when they have been wrong. Case and point Schnoebelem's critique of Freeman's assessment of Pulling's (and his) "fortress mentality."

Freeman reveals his true colors. He is against Biblical Christianity:

"Ultimately Pat Pulling had only one allegation remaining that anyone would listen to - and even then only fundamentalist Christian groups were willing to believe it. Fantasy role playing games, they asserted, were occult indoctrination tools that lured white suburban teens into horrific satanic cults. Furthermore, these cults were everywhere. The popular "fortress mentality" of certain religious groups - the belief that the world is a wholly corrupt, evil place that only their faith protects them from - latched onto this "evidence" of Satan's power. Proof that the world was in Satan's grasp could be found by demonizing every aspect of pop-culture."

Biblical Christianity does not have this "fortress mentality" that Freeman points out. Yes we believe that Christianity is the only true religion, yes we believe that the world is fallen, but not wholly corrupt in the way that Freeman is talking about. Schnoebelem and CHIC latch on to anything and everything they can with which to smear their opponents but so many of these rhetorical attacks fall flat. They also refuse to acknowledge when they have made a mistake and continue to fight in favor of assertions that are simply not true (DnD teaches magic, DnD causes suicide, etc). Their tone and technique in dealing with disagreement is unsavory and unethical by a worldly standard and contemptible by the very biblical standard they claim to uphold. Given their track record all of their assertions should be put into question.

A sixth objection I have is that Schnoebelem seems confused about his own worldview using strong Christian language in such a way that I wonder if he isn't still operating in a Pagan worldview. He posits that someone who plays DnD could accidentally trigger a 'spiritual rule' and unintentionally fire off a curse or summon a demon similar to how one could accidentally pull the trigger of a loaded gun. I suspect his experience as high priest in the Church of Satan (among his other occult titles and experiences) may account for this concern. My conviction is that 'spiritual rules' which Schnoebelem claims are like loaded guns do not exist. The devil does not get to stake claim to any number of colors or patterns or words and an innocent person who accidentally mimics what a practitioner of the occult does is not in danger of running afoul a spiritual landmine. God knows the heart and the devil and all the demons need his permission before acting so the danger is in the intention of the action, and not the action itself (unless the action is inherently hazardous). Just because Buddhist monks use Mandelas in their meditation practices doesn't mean that a Christian could accidentally find herself emptying her mind and experiencing 'one with the universe' if she looked at a Mandela for too long. No God created all things and Christ redeems all things, there is no danger of accidentally pulling a spiritual trigger.

The final objection I have isn't so much with Schnoebelem's article as it is with his questionable background. Schnoebelem makes a number of claims that seem suspect but taken all together he is a former Wiccan Sorcerer, a former 2nd degree member of the Satanic Church, a former 90th degree Free Mason, a former vampire, had sex with a demon, had more demons in him per cubic centimeter than the entire city of Indianapolis, and he was also a former 1st degree member of the Illuminati. He repented and became a fundamentalist Christian and is now running a circuit ministry to combat The Occult, Mormonism, Free Masonry, Satanism, The New World Order and UFOs for Jesus. Schnoebelem's biography is incredible, there is no mistaking that, even more incredible than what he claims DnD is and is responsible for. I haven't done the research into his past to say that he's a fraud... but the biography he holds to and the ministry he profits from look and sound similar to the sort of hoaxes that Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, Marjoe Gortner, and a number of other charismatic circuit riders pulled during their lives and so I approach his claims with skepticism.

All in all Schnoebelem blows Dungeons and Dragons out of proportion. It is, as much as he objects, just a game and a pretty innocent game at that. He is still worth reading though as his challenges are (hopefully) made with the spiritual well being of the reader at heart and, at the very least, he asks a lot of soul searching questions that should be wrestled through. He warns us to be on guard against opposing ideas about God that will subvert a proper understanding if you passively accept them. Don't confuse fantasy for reality and make sure that your understanding of God is grounded in Scripture and not what you pick up from the world around you.