[pendell]

My response:

Spoiler

Gentlemen,



It has recently come to my attention that CCF has found it necessary to
decline a check from GenCon on the basis of protecting the integrity of its
brand name.



I must express my deep sense of sadness and regret that you chose this
course of action. Gary Gygax, a Christian and a game designer in whose
memory the money was raised, was a man deeply loved by his community.
The roleplaying game he helped to write has been unfairly and unjustly
maligned as a gateway to the occult. But I have worked in outreach
to occultists for 9 years, and I confess I have never met one who used
any roleplaying game as a gateway into it. I have read real grimoires,
and any aspiring occultist who sought the knowledge found in them in D&D
would find that he had spent a lot of time and money for very little gain.



Nonetheless, because of mis-conceptions there has been a great deal of
pain and misunderstanding between the churchgoing community and the
gaming community, especially on those who count themselves members of both.

I am one of those.



Gary Gygax' death -- and the shared love for him in both communities --
represented a golden moment to heal the breech and redress a wrong.

CCF chose not to avail itself of the opportunity. If anything, it has made
the situation worse.



Whatever CCF intended with respect to protecting the integrity of its brand,
the actions CCF has taken have 'heaped burning coals' on the heads of many
in the gaming community, and I daresay it will make it much harder for
non-Christian gamers to consider the gospel or its claims. Its
hard to listen to what we preach when our actions speak so loudly.



Its just one more stumbling block in a road already full of potholes.



Because of this, I personally will be donating my money in future to World
Vision, Mission of Mercy, and related organizations which pursue the same
mission but do not feel it necessary to take such ill-advised actions to
protect their brand. An action, by the way, which rings hollow in the
eyes of many, since no other organization has ever turned down a no-strings-
attached gift raised from the benefit of this group in the thirty year
history of the auction.



I nonetheless wish you success in your mission to bring comfort to the
lost and the hurting of the world, and hope that our next occasion to speak
is under better circumstances.


Respectfully,



Brian P.