Is Doom a Christian Game?

 Yes, this is a serious question.

DOOM is perhaps one of the most storied franchises ever to exist within this industry of ours. A blood soaked grandfather of the genre, the original helped refine the lessons of Wolfenstien 3D and in doing so defined a style of gaming that would go on to be one of it's most influential to the modern landscape of interactive entertainment. And, incidentally, it's also perhaps one of the most controversial examples of an extremely controversial genre. Advocacy groups and anti-gaming speakers, most of whom are usually also receiving funding from gun associations for whatever that's worth, tend to hone in on First Person Shooters as brainwashing tools that teach it's gamers how to commit violent deeds and corrupt their innocent souls. Double goes true for a game like DOOM, which depicts the vile demons of hell bursting out onto the surface of mars to destroy a colony before turning their efforts upon the earth.

You see, there's just not enough Christian games on the modern market to satisfy these folks. Games that teach the many docile fairy tales of the bible where animals are gathered two by two to survive the coming flood, or gospel passages are shouted from the streets of an oppressed land under a dire thumb of irreligious roman heathens- or a father is tricked into nearly killing his son by god for no good reason whatsoever. (Seriously, some of the Old Testaments stories are right trite.) All Christians want is a game that caters solely to them and their believes. Spreading the message of love for your fellow man, rejection of false idols and prophets and a rejection of the seductive lures of the devil and his coterie of demons... wait, hang on what was that last one again?

Rejecting demons? As in, pushing away the desires of hedonism and debauchery and all that fun stuff, but if we were to look at that in a bit more of a literal fashion, then we could see the rejection of demons as the... destruction of beings from the demonic realms? Because let's not pretend that Christianity assumes the term 'demon' to be allegorical- according to the Christian Mythology: Satan is a entity of some form and he choose to exert his will on the world through seductive means and consorting with 'demons'. In fact, some branches of theology even go so far as to name 'demons' as simply being all pantheons of a contrasting faith to Christianity. The old Norse gods, Odin, Thor, Baldr- the Greek Pantheon, Hera, Zeus, Athena- The Egyptian gods, Isis, Sobek, Horus- all of them are demonic soldiers from the halls of Pandemonium, presumably supplicants to the will of Lucifer.

Of course, DOOM's conceptualising is based on a more modern ideal on the word 'Demon'. To many modern, not exactly theological, interpretations; Demons are the hellish equivalent to seraphim angels. They are legion, armies of corrupted, ugly and monstrous beings occupying the lands of the underworld and vying to sneak their way into the mortal realm in order to work their wiles on humans. Corrupting them, changing their ethics, or simply going nuts and eating them. That's the version of Demons you'll find in books like the Demonata saga, games like 'The Elder Scrolls' or in comic book universes like in DC and Marvel. But even then, does DOOM align with the ideal of Christian values when faced with transposition?  

Well first of all, DOOM makes great use of violent and bloody means to slay the many denizens of Hell which many would knee-jerk assume is un-Christian; however that wouldn't necessarily be the case. Whilst the Bible does preach love for your fellow man, forgiveness and understanding- there's nothing to say one cannot go around killing. The ten commandants? 'Thou shall not kill'? I think you've got a bad translation my friend- the closer interpretation would be 'Thou shall not murder'. Lawful killing, in the service of warfare or to protect others, or perhaps to face up against the fires of Hell that seek to overwhelm humanity as we know it- well that's just fine. Heck, Jesus himself is said to be on his way to return to Earth a warrior, wielding a sword; peace and forgiveness only go so far!

DOOM also makes use of a plethora of occult imagery that any god-fearing Christian would find simply offensive to their sensibilities. Pentagram and sacrificial shrines and allusions to the '666' mark of the beast- surely no Christian product would be stained as such! Well, that would depend on the intelligence and worldliness of the viewer to be honest. Anybody can be offended, but if you are offended on the grounds of your faith it would be helpful to be of an understanding about the faith you are championing. The Pentagram is a symbol of wiccans, and is better connected to paganism than Satanism- the misconception there is more of a creative liberty enjoyed by popular culture. Sacrifice is another pagan ritual found in certain ancient cultures across the world, human sacrifice is a decent bit rarer, but it happened. Such Christians would be better off bearing their fists at history than a modern day acknowledgment of such traditions, but looking back would require said-Christians to see their own religion's past as well, which they made find uncomfortable. (One word: 'Crusades'.) And lastly: the mark of the beast. There isn't even a consistent account on what this number actually is. In fact, there's a rising belief that the original text depicted '616', making 666 an invention of the modern age because it sounded more fluid on the tongue... 

Now let's examine the Doomguy's actions throughout the games. He rises up in the face of tragedy, in the event of demonic invasions that threaten the freedom of human life. He tackles against a breed of demons that oppose the world in ways very similar to how a biblical Devil would, through seduction and lies, and he crushes them under a swathe of righteous violence. He is an unerring champion of humanity, being a hero to a people who- as it is revealed in DOOM ETERNAL- aren't even his own. (possibly, the narrative is little unclear on that matter.) In someways, Doomguy, or The Doom Slayer, is something more akin to a warrior angel battling the forces of- wait, is Satan actually a concept in this world? Well... I don't think he's ever mentioned by that name... however there is an entity known as 'The Dark Lord' who seems to be some kind of overall ruler of hell, which would imply he is the Lucifer we all know and love.

A Christian who finds the sin of Grand Theft Auto as too crass for their sensibilities and the multiculturalism of the Assassin's Creed franchise as utterly abhorrent, could find that by and large DOOM slides neatly into what they are looking for in a god-fearing title. It doesn't bear the testaments proudly carved into it's chest or any of that overbearing Bible-thumping stuff, but it does present 'The enemy', as it is known in Christian lore, in the supreme antagonistic role that Christian doctrine demands and presents that player in a position to rip and tear against it. The victims of violence are all merciless demons, the hero is something akin to an avenging angel himself, and the game is really fun to play to boot. Conclusion, any pastors reading this should really look into the viability of fundraising a play-along to DOOM. I'd chip in!