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> But in the 1980s the game came under an extraordinary sustained assault from fundamentalist religious groups who feared its power over young minds.

> ...

> Pulling described D&D as "a fantasy role-playing game which uses demonology, witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide, assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality, prostitution, satanic type rituals, gambling, barbarism, cannibalism, sadism, desecration, demon summoning, necromantics, divination and other teachings".

It could be said that the source material for the religious groups contains far worse stories. I wonder if the irony was lost on the people back then.

It can go both ways. One of the cofounders of the Dragon Lance stories and games used his religious expertise (LDS) and knowledge of an Indonesian language learned from his religious mission to help develop story plots and the pantheon of gods.

In fairness, if you remove fantasy role-playing game, it's not a terrible description of the Old Testament.

"a which uses demonology, witchcraft, ... " ?