This past week, the controversy over Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a video game based on the Left Behind series of novels, has been propelled into the national, and international news.  The catalyst was a press briefing organized by DefCon, (Campaign to Defend the Constitution), that featured Clark Stevens of DefCon, Tim Simpson of the Christian Alliance for Progress, and me, representing Talk to Action.  (Full disclosure: I am also a member of the DefCon advisory board.)  

There were wire service accounts by the Associated Press, Religion News Service, Reuters and Interpress News Service, appearing in thousands of media outlets worldwide. as well as generating considerable discussion on talk radio and in the blogosphere. There were also major newspaper stories in the Boston Globe, USA Today and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as an article on the BBC News web site, and a report on the controversy on The New York Times blog.  

All of these were good articles that covered the gist of the press conference, while often emphasizing one or another of the main points. (If you are going to pick a few, I would try the Globe, the BBC News and the New York Times blog).  But there were some other, quite remarkable articles that cast the story in a somewhat different light.

Public concern about the video game based on Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series of novels is growing. It is the only video game that indoctrinates children in an ideology of religious warfare. And people are beginning to take action.

Our friends at DefCon has sent an e-mail to their national list, calling on WalMart to stop selling Left Behind: Eternal Forces.

This development comes just a week after a coalition of American progressive Christian groups called on the manufacturer to recall the game, and for Christians to boycott it.   Mainstream Baptists were soon urged to join the campaign. And The Muslim Association of Britain, called the game "evil":  

This game is irresponsible and highly racist. It demonises every other religion which isn't Christianity. People must boycott this violent game. "Games like this poison the minds of young people."

After many false starts, the video game based on Tim LaHaye's best selling "Left Behind" novels, has finally hit the shelves. The game is now for sale in thousands of stores -- just in time for the Christmas shopping season. How it will be received, of course, remains to be seen.

But it is worth reminding ourselves that this is but one of a number of strong currents in American religious culture promoting an ideology of religious warfare.

In posts here and at Talk to Action, my colleagues Jonathan Hutson and Chip Berlet and I (among others) have been writing about Left Behind:  Eternal Forces for months.  I don't want to reprise all that we have had to say, but I have included some links on the flip.

A number of this week's reports and analyses from the Greater Blogosphere have a theme. In various ways they describe the religious right's assault on religious freedom and pluralism in America. These assaults come from a number of seemingly different directions.