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June 13th, 2007

Stop shooting things in Manchester Cathedral

This has been the main Anglican news story of the last week (apart from the one involving dubious ordinations). I have not posted about it because I was on my Church Weekend Away and then there were some other reasons. Sorry that the cartoon is mildly mediocre. The man on the left is leaning a bit, but then some people do lean a bit.

The gist of the story is that a computer game distributed by Sony uses images of the inside of Manchester Cathedral as a venue for some shooting of aliens and they did not ask first. Ruth Gledhill reported on it and has a video of the game on her web blog.

Having seen these images I have no hesitation in agreeing with the Cathedral Authorities (with whom I have spoken) that the use of the Cathedral in the game is most inappropriate. The latest news is that the Cathedral is asking people in Japan to put pressure on Sony to change its ways.

In my own small way I will join the campaign by encouraging people to use TDK audiocassettes rather than Sony ones. You might be particularly interested, for instance, in the TDK endless cassette. These are often used by Charismatic worship groups to record worship sessions that go on ad infinitum. “I could sing of your love forever”, and that sort of thing. To quote the TDK promotional blurb:

If you think nothing is endless, think again.

Indeed.

There are some other bloggers who have provided more interesting and / or in-depth analysis. Most of these would describe themselves as Christians, but they might not all do, I can’t remember:

The Complex Christ | Signs of Emergence: Manchester Cathedral vs.Sony
wannabepriest / Break out the heavy weapons, it’s the Dean & Chapter of Manchester Cathedral
rejesus blog » Blog Archive » Jesus and Virtual Desecration
The Wardman Wire » Video Game Battle between Sony and Manchester Cathedral: Update
Sanctus1 Blog: Cathedral treads the path of most Resistance, also More on the Cathedral and Sony…
Tech Digest: Does the Church of England have any rights over a virtual Manchester Cathedral? (By Andy Merrett, who is a Christian)
Grumpy Gamer - Manchester Cathedral vs. Sony (This one is on Sony’s side)
Gun-fight gaming and Manchester Cathedral « Spirituality of Play

Lots of bloggers who are self confessing not-Christians have posted too. I have read quite a few, and whilst most of the blogs themselves discuss the matter in a reasonable way the comments often showed the depth of hatred a lot of people have for the Church of England. It didn’t surprise me, but also it did, if you understand what I mean. I’m not posting any links in case a horde of grumpy gamers come after me and start shooting me with computerised guns.



This is a single Cartoon Blog entry, posted by Dave on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 11:59 pm.

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13 Responses to “Stop shooting things in Manchester Cathedral”


  1. thomas bushnell, bsg says:

    i’m afraid i’m over on this side of the pond.

    the cathedral does not own the sole right to license fictional representations of its interior. if the game is in bad taste, so be it, but, at least where free speech reigns, people have the right to do things which are in bad taste.

    “demanding” it be withdrawn is rather a grand-standing attempt, it seems to me. better the clergy should continue their (excellent) campaign against real gun violence.

  2. Ann says:

    They are not fictional representations but actual footage -it is more like a film company shooting a film in your house without asking or paying. Maybe the cathedral should get a percentage of the profit?

  3. Matt Wardman says:

    They are not quite either actual footage or a fictional representation, and the reproduction is very accurate. One of the interesting legal points is the exact status of a 3d representation.

    I’ve posted my analysis on the link on my name.

    Cheers. Matt

  4. thomas bushnell, bsg says:

    it is *not* “actual footage”, if by that you mean *actual* footage. they didn’t somehow sneak into the cathedral with cameras.

    these games do not involve actual footage; the whole thing is CGI. that’s why Gledhill’s use of “photorealistic” is inaccurate, or, one might say, deliberately misleading.

    if they had trespassed in the cathedral, or violated its rules while present, that would be bad. but they didn’t need to set foot into the building for the images, and there’s no reason to think they did.

    no, i think the cathedral is agin’ single-shooter games, and thinks this is a great way to make a splash and get some press. woo hoo. i’d rather they spent their time getting off the propaganda routine and doing their own jobs (which, i hear, they are very good at, including their laudible anti-gun efforts).

  5. Kester says:

    Dave, you’re a genius. I just love this cartoon!

  6. Chris says:

    Dave

    In a wonderful phrase you say that your cartoon is “mildly mediocre”.

    Even if that were true, there would be no need to apologise! There are days when I aspire to the mildly mediocre ;-)

    Chris

  7. Chris Clark says:

    Wonderful Dave, one of your real laugh out loud blogs

    I think the man may be a clergyman (hint of a clerical collar) and is leaning to the left…. Which is probably why he is not a gun touting conservative and will, I predict, continue on his tour not tempted to shoot aliens.

    The puritanin me (vestiges remain) says that God is bigger than all this but I am upset for those who are upset if you understand…

  8. Lectio says:

    Thanks for the pingback, it’s sent me to some new blogs - and the cartoon of course, lightens the general air of disgruntlement around the issue.

  9. joe says:

    Great thinking, Dave. Lots of possible cartoons on this theme, if I could draw. Doof.

    How about a sign saying ‘Entrance to Manchester Cathedral’ with various sized doors for various sized lifeforms..?

  10. Michael J Dangler says:

    I think that the oddest thing about this story is not that the clergy are mad about the aliens being splattered all over the nave, but rather that they seem to be mad about not being asked politely whether aliens could be splattered about the nave.

  11. Youthblog says:

    Dave,

    In an ironic piece of timing Norwich Cathedral (according to the Church Times) requested a visit from pest control who shot the annoying pigeon in question. I like the juxtaposition of Cathedrals not wanting to shoot aliens but shooting pigeons.
    Funny old world, eh!

  12. robert marshall says:

    or even the footballers…

  13. Iconoclast says:

    Have we considered that that the aliens in Manchester Cathedral might in fact be Conservative Evangelicals from the Global South…?