Church of England to Sue Sony for Illegal Gun Fight in Cathedral
Entertainment company Sony may be the target of a legal action by the Church of England, for featuring Manchester Cathedral in a computer war game.
by Daniel Blake
Posted: Saturday, June 9, 2007, 12:25 (BST)
Entertainment company Sony may be the target of a legal action by the Church of England, for featuring Manchester Cathedral in a computer war game.
The controversial game is Sony Playstation's 'Resistance: Fall of Man', which features gun battles inside the cathedral without permission from the Church.
The game has been highly popular, with more than a million copies being sold, however, the featured shoot-out in the cathedral shockingly kills hundreds of soldiers in a virtual version of the holy building.
The Church of England has called for an apology from the game makers, and has called for the game to be removed from shops, saying that if this is not done it would consider legal action.
Despite the apparent serious implications, Sony, as of yet, has not returned calls from the Church officials, according to the BBC.
The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch has said that the Sony makers' actions have been "highly irresponsible", especially in light of Manchester's troubles with gun crime.
He said, "It is well know that Manchester has a gun crime problem. For a global manufacturer to re-create one of our great cathedrals with photo-realistic quality and then encourage people to have guns battles in the building is beyond belief and highly irresponsible.
"Here in Manchester we do all we can to support communities through our parish clergy. We know the reality of gun crime and the devastating effects it can have on lives. It is not a trivial matter."
The Dean of Manchester Cathedral, The Very Revd Rogers Govender, has said Sony was "undermining" the work of the church. He said, "We are shocked to see a place of learning, prayer and heritage being presented to the youth market as a location where guns can be fired.
"This is an important issue. For many young people these games offer a different sort of reality and seeing guns in Manchester Cathedral is not the sort of connection we want to make.
"Every year we invite hundreds of teenagers to come and see the cathedral and it is a shame to have Sony undermining our work."
Till now, Sony has not been able to free anyone to be available for comment on the controversy. However, David Wilson, a Sony spokesman, told The Times newspaper: "It is game-created footage, it is not video or photography.
"It is entertainment, like Doctor Who or any other science fiction. It is not based on reality at all. Throughout the whole process we have sought permission where necessary."
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Have your say on this article
The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Thursday, June 14, 2007, 0:04 (BST)
God forgives sony for using his church in video game so why can’t his so called followers ?
Darren, plymouth uk
Added: Monday, June 11, 2007, 3:53 (BST)
The CofE should have run this through its evangelism department with a theological game plan. Maybe negotiate a "redemption" theme add-in game pack that puts a God engine (displays the supernatural through Biblical signs-sight-to-the blind, cast-out-demons, preaches-the-faith-once-for-all-times-delivered-to-the-saints, feeds the poor, edifies-the-Saints, manifestations-of-the-Spiriit,etc.) into the mix to "add salt to the World". Scriptures have lots of blood, guts, betrayal, executioners, and bold believers walking the walk. Now its time to engage the world as-it-is. Why litigate when Sony just wants another game title? Who knows it could be an Escatological Blockbuster that draws gamers close to the Ultimate Gamer of the Universe, using ourselves in the game of Redemption since the "Fall of Man".
bwildasi, LB CA, USA
Added: Saturday, June 9, 2007, 19:24 (BST)
well done, this will help the sales of a great game.
jeff, tyneside england
Added: Saturday, June 9, 2007, 16:38 (BST)
Have the people at the Church of England even played the game? In the game the world is under threat by the Chimeras which is some sort of monsters caused by an unknown virus and the threat is spreading over the whole planet. In the game you are playing as someone who is fighting the Chimera ie saving the world. Violence and gun fire in Cathedral? Hundreds of soldiers killed? You are trying the save mankind by getting rid of the monsters so less people will have to die! Saving mankind in a Cathedral - perfect match.
Chris, UK
Added: Saturday, June 9, 2007, 14:50 (BST)
I think its worth pointing out that there are only a few soldiers (5 or 6) who are on the side of the player, they are taking refuge in the church and the enemies are in fact aliens/monsters. That's far from the slaughter of hundreds I'm afraid, but nice try.
Seb, Shropshire, Great Britain
Added: Saturday, June 9, 2007, 14:04 (BST)
This is bloody awful, it is just a game, they aren't saying people should fire guns in a church. What about EA games' "Comand & Conquer: Renegade"? You can fight in many churches in this game, just because they are not based on real churches does that make it ok? Is it sugesting that people attack churches with an assortment of weapons? No, this is just computer graphics. I very much doubt that there are many children who would see this game as an excuse to break the law by repeating actions from the game in real life.
sd, UK
