In stark contrast to the ACL, who claimed that the R18+ guidelines “failed families”, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has released a statement claiming they “welcome” the release of the guidelines – proving once and for all that the ACL do not represent all people of Christian faith.
“How to handle the classification of R18+ Computer Games is a difficult matter for society as well as for individuals and, especially, for parents,” claimed Fr Leonard. “There are no easy solutions and we want to ensure that there is as much information available on the content of such games for parents and concerned citizens.”
During the submissions process the Australian Catholic Bishops made a very similar statement. Fr Leonard was quick to claim, however, that in an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to worry about these issues at all.
“In an ideal world, the sort of material that is included in R18+ or higher classification films and computer games would never be seen in a civilised democracy. However, it is not an ideal world and, in the real world in which we live, such material unfortunately is produced and is available, sometimes legally and often illegally, within our society,” he said.
It appears that, despite having issues with some aspects of video game content, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has decided to take a pragmatic view of events.
“All concerned Australians, especially concerned parents, should carefully consider the draft Guidelines and tell the Government of their views,” said Fr Leonard. “We all have a vision of how we would like our society to be, but we as a society need to address the world as it is, not as we would like it would be.”
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