Question

Is Minecraft being used to proliferate Satanism?

Answer 1

Minecraft is not being used to proliferate Satanism. Minecraft has done nothing in particular to back up this claim and the article lists no evidence outside of hearsay from a few pastors. Video games have been a target of religion in the past with the Satanic Panic of the 1980's which was even referenced in this article. The article generalizes all gamers with the unverified words of very few to scare readers. This article was very similar to other fear mongering tactics that came up when researching the Satanic Panic of the 1980's with many accusing Doom, Dungeons and dragons and rock music of having Satanic messaging.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/642372/satanic-panic-history-1980s

Comments

Bringing up past instances and providing an article that involves factual debunking about video games being targets is very helpful. To further add to your answer, the article used by the original claim was published in 2017 which is long outdated as Mojang has expanded its game since then. I also wasn't able to find other articles that involve videogames such as Minecraft proliferating Satanism, the claim itself is more of a personal religious belief than it can be thoroughly discussed due to the limited articles on it. I do wish that there were more articles discussing this claim but as of now, there are only two and both of them have been used here.

Answer 2

Overall, this article by World Religion News makes a vast generalization about people who play video games, particularly Minecraft, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. There is a supreme lack of evidence in the article, with no mention of studies, surveys, or any scientific research backing their claim. Their only sources of information come from a Satanic priest and reverend, who may have one or two biases. They also cite a tweet from 2017 promoting video gamers and Satanism, which has since been deleted. Their last piece of evidence comes from another article on the website Kotaku, a video gaming review website which has declined significantly since its heyday. This article lists the same Satanic revered and priest as the original article, along with a first-hand account of one, singular gamer who practices Satanism via online platforms. The world of video games has grown to become a massive field in the modern era, to state that video games enables online users to promote Satanism is a gross exaggeration to what, in reality, is likely a tiny percentile of people who go online for these purposes.

https://kotaku.com/satanists-say-video-games-help-them-practice-their-reli-1819226570

Answer 3

There is no evidence linking the game Minecraft to anything remotely satanic. The proof within the given article is people who consider themselves Satanists also enjoy playing video games such as Minecraft. The article then links to a Kotaku article which interviewed several people and used one reverand to push his ideals upon people who were just playing the games. " To that end, over half a dozen Satanists I interviewed say that games are playgrounds for their Satanic virtues to run free.

Left 4 Dead? Satanic. Call of Duty? Satanic. Minecraft? Mega-Satanic, the Satanists I spoke to said. “You can build every little thing—put a torch where you want it, a tunnel, a walkway, a moat. That’s very Satanic,” explained Satanist reverend John H. Shaw."

https://archive.is/CbyTN#selection-1129.602-1155.204