Full text of letter | Does Church have a case? | Ruth Gledhill's blog

An ultra-violent video game set in Manchester Cathedral has led Church leaders to threaten legal action against the makers of the "sick" game unless they remove it from sale immediately and donate to the diocese's work with young people.

The ultimatum is made in a letter, seen by Times Online, from the The Very Rev Rogers Govender, on behalf of the Dean and Canons of Manchester Cathedral, to the entertainment giant Sony. It comes after three people were shot in the city in the last 72 hours. Sony used the cathedral as the backdrop to the gunfight in the PlayStation 3 game 'Resistance:The Fall of Man'.

Dean Govender met church officials and drew up a letter of demands which ends "We are currently seeking the advice of our lawyers in this matter and reserve our legal position in relation to the same".

The Church demands that Sony, who allegedly did not seek permission for use images of the cathedral, makes a "substantial donation" to be used in the cathedral's youth work in "resisting the culture of gun crime and other forms of violence in our society".

The Church also calls for the immediate withdrawal of the game and "furthermore, that Sony do not re-issue it without modifying the section of the game to remove the cathedral interior," the letter says.

Dean Govender brands the unapproved use of images of the cathedral as “virtual desecration” after the firm set one of its top-selling games inside the place of worship.

The letter emphasises that the Church is taking advice from lawyers and urges Sony to contact them for a meeting so there can be a "mutually satisfactory conclusion to this matter".

The new PlayStation 3 game, which has sold more than one million copies, sees a virtual shoot-out between rival gunmen with hundreds killed during a battle inside the cathedral. Church officials have described Sony’s use of the building as sick and sacrilegious.

Sony did not ask for permission to use the cathedral according to the Church. David Marshall, spokesman for Manchester Cathedral said the church had received many e-mails in support of its stance against the multinational.

David Wilson, a Sony spokesman, told The Times: “It is game-created footage, it is not video or photography. It is entertainment, like Doctor Who or any other science fiction. It is not based on reality at all. Throughout the whole process we have sought permission where necessary.”

In a further statement the Japanese multinational said they believed they had the permission necessary to create the game and that they were aware of the concerns raised by the cathedral authorities, "We naturally take the concerns very seriously," the statement said. "We are now in contact with the cathedral authorities and will be dealing with them directly.”

Manchester has suffered from a plague of gun violence in recent years with three shootings taking place within the last 72 hours. The row began on Friday when church leaders were told the inside of the church was used as a backdrop for one section of the game where soldiers take part in a virtual shoot-out with aliens trying to take over the planet.

Players adopt the role of an American soldier fighting the alien invaders in cities across the UK. A spokesman for Sony said no other religious buildings featured in the game. The computer game shows scenes of bloody violence where players must shoot dead a host of enemies using weapons such as a Rossmore 236 close-quarter combat shotgun, the L23 fareye sniper rifle and an XR-005 Hailstorm chaingun. Graphic scenes of virtual violence from the game were shown on the video-sharing website YouTube.

Dean Govender said the footage on the internet "dismayed" cathedral officials beyond belief. “We are shocked to see a place of worship, prayer, learning and heritage being presented to the youth of today as a location where guns can be fired," he said.

"Every year we invite hundreds of teenagers to come and see the cathedral so that they might appreciate an alternative to the violence that they experience in their daily lives. It is a shame to have a game like this undermining such important work."