Is this Old Testament passage "hate speech"?

[excreationist]

The following is not allowed in Steam games:

Hate speech, i.e. speech that promotes hatred, violence or discrimination against groups of people based on ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation

I wanted to include the following passage in my game:

Deuteronomy 20:16-17
But what about the cities the Lord your God is giving you as your own? Kill everything that breathes in those cities. Completely destroy them. Wipe out the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. That’s what the Lord your God commanded you to do.

It seems to involve violence based on ethnicity though I don't think those ethnicities still exist. I hope it doesn't count as hate speech. What do Christians think?

 

[The Hammer]

It seems to involve violence based on ethnicity though I don't think those ethnicities still exist. I hope it doesn't count as hate speech. What do Christians think?

Spoken like a colonizers attitude. My way is right, those other people are wrong.

Hate speech at the time these groups existed. Now an example of hate speech.

 

[Jimmy]

There’s a lot of weird things in the Bible.

 

[excreationist]

Spoken like a colonizers attitude. My way is right, those other people are wrong.

Hate speech at the time these groups existed. Now an example of hate speech.

The reason why I don't want it to count as hate speech is so that my game can be released and it would make many people aware of problematic passages like this and make them feel uneasy when they're pressured to carry it out as part of the gameplay. Though it would look cartoony in a Minecraft type of way.

 

[The Hammer]

There’s a lot of weird things in the Bible.

Lots of "weird" things in all Myths.

 

[The Hammer]

The reason why I don't want it to count as hate speech is so that my game can be released and it would make many people aware of problematic passages like this and make them feel uneasy when they're pressured to carry it out as part of the gameplay. Though it would look cartoony in a Minecraft type of way.

Fair.

This may have sounded like I meant "you" specifically. But I merely meant the text.

Using the text in game to point out why this type of thinking is not ok would not be "using hate speech".

 

[excreationist]

Using the text in game to point out why this type of thinking is not ok would not be "using hate speech".

In the game the goal is to "cleanse" the area or you can order soldiers to do it for you. If you finish the quests from a talking box it says "congratulations you are a good obedient boy". Regular players would feel conflicted but the game doesn't explicitly say there is something wrong with the Bible passage.
Then there is this interesting part a bit later on:
Deuteronomy 20:19

Suppose you surround a city and get ready to attack it. And suppose you fight against it for a long time in order to capture it. Then don’t chop down its trees and destroy them. You can eat their fruit. So don’t cut them down. Are the trees people? So why should you attack them?

So in the game the soldiers get upset if you hurt fruit trees.

 

[The Hammer]

In the game the goal is to "cleanse" the area or you can order soldiers to do it for you. If you finish the quests from a talking box it says "congratulations you are a good obedient boy". Regular players would feel conflicted but the game doesn't explicitly say there is something wrong with the Bible passage.
Then there is this interesting part a bit later on:
Deuteronomy 20:19

So in the game the soldiers get upset if you hurt fruit trees.

Too caught up on "Are the trees people? So why should you attack them?"

Yes they are absolutely People.

Outside of that. No idea? Maybe contact a person at Steam?

 

[excreationist]

Too caught up on "Are the trees people? So why should you attack them?"

Yes they are absolutely People.

Trees are people?

Outside of that. No idea? Maybe contact a person at Steam?

Yeah though I'm worried they'll consider it hate speech and it is the foundation of my game. I'm thinking of just removing the sentence listing the six ethnicities....

 

[Twilight Hue]

Trees are people?

Yeah though I'm worried they'll consider it hate speech and it is the foundation of my game. I'm thinking of just removing the sentence listing the six ethnicities....

The problem is Christians will never acknowledge hate speech in their scriptures they'll completely ignore and deny it even though it's clearly the case.

 

[excreationist]

The problem is Christians will never acknowledge hate speech in their scriptures they'll completely ignore and deny it even though it's clearly the case.

An interesting quote by a Christian on another messageboard:

Hate speech is a term coined by the godless to attack those who are godly.

 

[Brian2]

The following is not allowed in Steam games:

I wanted to include the following passage in my game:

It seems to involve violence based on ethnicity though I don't think those ethnicities still exist. I hope it doesn't count as hate speech. What do Christians think?

The Bible tells us that God was going to both judge the Canaanites for the evils they were doing and to give their land to His chosen people.
God did not want His people to intermarry with them or be influenced by them and their religions so that they also would not have to be judged by their God and King whom they had entered into an agreement with.
The Israelites did not do what He wanted and were influenced and were judged by God.
So it was both God's love and God's judgement which Deut 20:17-17 is talking about.
As to whether people would think it is hate speech in your game: Probably they would. Even people who know what it is about and so should know better, say it is hate speech by a hateful God or words put in the mouth of a non existent God by the Israelites.

 

[Brickjectivity]

What do Christians think?

You'll be allowed to put it into your game I think.

and it would make many people aware of problematic passages like this

The problem is not specific ethnic groups in Deuteronomy. The objection to the "Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites" are their practices -- not their ancestry or genetics. The existence of the Israelites is a provocation to them: for example the Israelites are not permitted to pass through and buy water on their way to some other place. Wherever the Israelites go they let other people be if left alone and offer to pay their way, but the Amorites (and others) won't allow them to. Its actually everyone versus the Israelites: you and I and everyone. Its not about our ethnicity or genetics. If we leave the Jews be, live and let live, then they live with us. That's the gist of the story as I see it.

When we reach the book of Kings, however, there appears to be an ethnic grudge against the Amorites. Saul wants to spare the king of the Amorites, but he is ordered to kill that king. I think though that the context indicates that he has gone to war against Saul and that the Amorites have never stopped attacking and harassing. The story is of a country surrounded by enemies that pillage and take over if they can whether it be the Philistines or the Amorites or the Egyptians or the Assyrians. The country is constantly overrun by pillagers.

Unfortunately there are scriptures in other religions that do suggest genetic purity and breeding, but Hebrew scriptures encourage genetic mixing. There are many passages which I could point out, but I think the most interesting one is in the law which claims the life is in the blood. I've always found that succinct, but there are more explicit laws about adoption and inheritance which show a rejection of belief in breeding. Breeding is instead shown to be problematic. Always it is represented as problematic in the scripture. If there is any rejection of ethnicity it is a rejection of ethnicity itself.

 

[ChristineM]

The following is not allowed in Steam games:

I wanted to include the following passage in my game:

It seems to involve violence based on ethnicity though I don't think those ethnicities still exist. I hope it doesn't count as hate speech. What do Christians think?

I would suggest emailing to Steam for advice.

 

[Soapy]

Is this Old Testament passage "hate speech"?​

No, the passage is not ‘Hate Speech’ in terms of it being biased thinking.

God sees the hearts and minds of all his creation. Corruption in mankind that is beyond s certain degree cannot be tolerated in the greater scheme of things and so God advocates that all such persons be destroyed. Who are we to argue against God - we are not judges of the spirit and mind of men beyond base levels.

If God saw these nations and people as a cancer in the world then if God says so why would we be against God in ridding the world of such a cancerous and evil entity in the world?

The common man’s judgement on the passage does not take into account the evil that these nations were committing. It’s clear that God regarded these nations as beyond the allowable levels of vileness allowed by Him in the world.

 

[excreationist]

The problem is not specific ethnic groups in Deuteronomy. The objection to the "Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites" are their practices -- not their ancestry or genetics.

What about the babies? Also it says to kill everything that breathes so that would include animals...

 

[Soapy]

What about the babies? Also it says to kill everything that breathes so that would include animals...

The babies will grow up to be the same as the parent…

It is WRONG for humanity to decide for ourselves what is good and what is bad AGAINST WHAT GOD DEMANDS.

Man cannot judge heart and mind at the nth degree - only God can fo that. But on a human to animal level (as opposed to God to human) his concerned would you be about destroying all dangerous ‘Tiger Fish’ from all places where they were mis-introduced?

Only TOTAL ANHIALATION is advocated… Even BABY Tiger Fish…!!!

Tell me why ‘even babies’?

Yes… because we as humans CAN JUDGE the animals in this regard. The groups mentioned in the verse are all human and WERE EVIL BEYOND EVEN GOD’S TOLERANCE. They were a cancer on the earth in relation to their sinfulness. The ‘cancer’ was in their DNA so their vile attitude passed throughout their generations.

It is likely that if somehow we now were to encounter and experience interaction with those from those tribes we ourselves would be calling for their demise: think NAZI’s, think CANNIBALS.

God DESTROYED ALL HUMANITY (EXCEPT SIX ADULT PERSONS) BABIES INCLUDED, in the flood of Noah’s day.

It’s not possible for someone today to understand what ABSOLUTE CORRUPTION was on the earth in humanity back in those days.

 

[excreationist]

God DESTROYED ALL HUMANITY (EXCEPT SIX ADULT PERSONS) BABIES INCLUDED, in the flood of Noah’s day.

I think you mean 8..... Noah and his three sons, and their wives..... apparently Noah was about 500 at the time....

 

[excreationist]

Outside of that. No idea? Maybe contact a person at Steam?

I was thinking.... I'll eventually ask Steam if they'd consider Deuteronomy 20:17 to be hate speech. If it is then I'd ask if I can tell the public that Steam considers it hate speech..... though the "kill everything that breathes" part could still be a foundation for the game.

 

[McBell]

The following is not allowed in Steam games:

I wanted to include the following passage in my game:

It seems to involve violence based on ethnicity though I don't think those ethnicities still exist. I hope it doesn't count as hate speech. What do Christians think?

I will wager it will depend upon the context in which it is presented.