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When the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled August 4 that in the Boy Scout Oath, "the words 'morally straight' and 'clean' do not, on their face, express anything about sexuality, much less that homosexuality, in particular, is immoral," culture warriors on both sides opined everywhere. In our own publication, Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey wrote, "The court assumed a right to decide not only what is legal, but also what qualifies as moral and immoral." In a way, the unabashedly liberal magazine Mother Jones agrees. "With those words [from the New Jersey court], the gay rights movement stepped beyond the battle for civil rights and into the era of cultural integration," writes William Saletan in the November/December issue. Saletan and cultural conservatives agree that the Court's argument "there is no indication that [gay scoutmaster James] Dale intends to actively 'teach' anything whatsoever about homosexuality as a scout leader" is preposterous. The very allowance of a gay scoutmaster teaches scouts something. But Saletan presents a bright side: "Just by the force of his example, Dale will teach scouts that a gay man can be an ethical person and a good leader. He will challenge the organization's homophobia. And he should." Saletan concludes that the ruling will force the Boy Scouts into answering whether they're "antigay" (and thus likely lose much of their support) or not antigay (and thus lose much of their past character).

The cover story of that Mother Jones issue looks like it could have come from Christianity Today. (In fact, it's very similar to one of our most popular issues in recent years.) The story, "Culture Quake," asks, "What happens to a generation immersed in the most violent, interactive entertainment ever created?" Beginning with a Plato quote ("Shall we just carelessly allow children to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown up?") and a description of the Electronic Entertainment Exposition trade show, it quickly recaps both sides of the post-Columbine video game debate. The article tries to be balanced, but writer Paul Keegan's discomfort with the games is palpable. He quotes a bunch of gamers around the age of 20, noting, "when they say that blowing away zillions of digital characters since they were kids hasn't made them the least bit aggressive in real life, you believe them." But just as he begins to see the games as positive ("Their camaraderie is as real as you'll find in any locker room"), they pop in Kingpin: Life of Crime. "I fully expect them to draw the line here for this is a game that goes way over the top with its graphic violence and racial stereotypes. Instead, they laugh and nod their approval at what a great game Kingpin is." Keegan's bottom line? Video games can't bear the full blame for the killers in Paducah and Littleton. But anyone who argues that the industry isn't harmful or even that it's beneficial is either deceived or deceiving.

Ironically, the latest issue of Cornerstone, published by Chicago's Jesus People USA, is much more positive toward video games. Like the Mother Jones article, Cornerstone's begins with a first-person account of walking down corridors. But instead of encountering trade show booths with scary promoters, Cornerstone writer Dave Canfield encounters demons and the alter ego of his brother. He's playing Doom the grandfather of first-person shooters like Kingpin. Like every other writer on the topic, Canfield talks about Columbine, quotes retired Army Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, and recounts the dangers of kids playing at murdering each other. But Canfield finds problems with Grossman's arguments that we're "training our children to kill," and trots out C.S. Lewis to support him. "In a fallen world where we must spiritually fight to stay alive, perhaps a little metaphorical demon blasting is just what the doctor ordered," Canfield writes. He concludes with a brief attack on the ultraviolent games like Kingpin, but adds in a postscript: "My thanks to brother Brent for a great weekend of initial research and demon blasting And praise to God for His mighty spirit of play. Kaplooey!!!" (To say Cornerstone publishes "sporadically" both in print and online would be generous. When this article is eventually posted online, it will be here. Don't hold your breath, though.)

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November (Web-only) 1999, Vol. 43