Mythology & Christianity

[V]

Bayonetta is again, a universe with its own idea of 'God'. Nowhere in it does it explicitly claim it is Christian angels you are killing, or that Jubileus IS THE Christian God. It is a make-believe world where Jubileus is God, and its servants are called 'angels'. It's hardly any different from "Neon Genesis Evangelion" where alien-like beings from space and other places are termed 'angels' for the purpose of suggesting a tenuous fictional connection between religion/destiny and these creatures, but never is it stated in Evangelion anywhere that what we are dealing with IS DEFINITELY the Christian God, even though the angels have been given the names of ACTUAL Biblical angels. It's for the simple purpose of tying in real-world mythos to make the series' backstory a little more relateable to or 'believeable', or possibly to add a dash of controversy for interest, though I doubt it because that series was intended for and aired in Japan, not specifically intended for or aimed at the Christian demographic of the world. In that series, the inclusion of the Dead Sea Scrolls and real Biblical names, Adam, the Sephirothic Tree, etc. - all real-world things - are to insinuate that ALL religions and myths of the world dealing with Man's destiny were probably different human interpretations of the NGE universe's idea of it. It's is the same as if a film came out in which the characters in it discovered that all the holy books of all the religions in the world had similarities in them because they're all referring slightly differently to a godlike being that isn't in reality any of them but instead its own thing. That's probably less 'sacrilegious' than a movie about the Christian Satan coming to Earth and possessing kids, (and there are plenty of those movies), or a film about the life of Jesus, in the eyes of certain religious people, because that IS specifically naming Christian figures. Offense from things like that usually come about because using them in a game or film is seen as 'trivializing' them. But you can't trivialize or take offense at a religion in a game that doesn't exist anyway. Even in a fictional story suggesting that all of our religions were really talking about aliens - the author expects the audience to have an imagination and not take offense. It would be different if someone published a book or something, or made a game that claimed things about various real religions and also claimed that it was telling the truth. THAT might be a legitimate cause for offense. Or if it were a deliberately similar horrific parody of a real-world faith. Bayonetta's God is female and the angels look like vultures, Buddhas, faceless humanoids, machines... you name it... but not much in it resembles anything like a parody of Christianity, beyond the use of the word "god" and "angels"!

The word "god" and "demon" and "angel" are not exclusively Christian words. They encompass more culturally now than just being definitive terms in a Christian Bible - you can say them to refer to the angels, demons and gods of ANY religion, fictional or otherwise. You hear such terms as "the angel of death" to refer to anything, from a real-life serial killer to a game character... an 'angel' is a 'divine' servant, protector or messenger, not necessarily a Christian entity. The same as a demon is a malevolent one, or a malevolent being, and they exist in almost ALL religions and cultures.

Only to someone without any capacity to imagine or entertain ideas outside of their own box would any story that has a fictional god in it be outrightly offensive or sacrilegious. People who do take such easy offense often tend to section themselves off from potential offence and outside influence anyway.

 

[Sieghart]

There are never any mention of any "real-life" god in the games from my understanding. No Christian God, no Jesus, no Buddha, no Shiva, no Ganesha, no Allah etc etc.

Buddha is not even a god. He never was and he never claimed he was. Just saying zee

 

[788Masri]

my bad

 

[Stylish Nero]

Bayonetta is again, a universe with its own idea of 'God'. Nowhere in it does it explicitly claim it is Christian angels you are killing, or that Jubileus IS THE Christian God. It is a make-believe world where Jubileus is God, and its servants are called 'angels'. It's hardly any different from "Neon Genesis Evangelion" where alien-like beings from space and other places are termed 'angels' for the purpose of suggesting a tenuous fictional connection between religion/destiny and these creatures, but never is it stated in Evangelion anywhere that what we are dealing with IS DEFINITELY the Christian God, even though the angels have been given the names of ACTUAL Biblical angels. It's for the simple purpose of tying in real-world mythos to make the series' backstory a little more relateable to or 'believeable', or possibly to add a dash of controversy for interest, though I doubt it because that series was intended for and aired in Japan, not specifically intended for or aimed at the Christian demographic of the world. In that series, the inclusion of the Dead Sea Scrolls and real Biblical names, Adam, the Sephirothic Tree, etc. - all real-world things - are to insinuate that ALL religions and myths of the world dealing with Man's destiny were probably different human interpretations of the NGE universe's idea of it. It's is the same as if a film came out in which the characters in it discovered that all the holy books of all the religions in the world had similarities in them because they're all referring slightly differently to a godlike being that isn't in reality any of them but instead its own thing. That's probably less 'sacrilegious' than a movie about the Christian Satan coming to Earth and possessing kids, (and there are plenty of those movies), or a film about the life of Jesus, in the eyes of certain religious people, because that IS specifically naming Christian figures. Offense from things like that usually come about because using them in a game or film is seen as 'trivializing' them. But you can't trivialize or take offense at a religion in a game that doesn't exist anyway. Even in a fictional story suggesting that all of our religions were really talking about aliens - the author expects the audience to have an imagination and not take offense. It would be different if someone published a book or something, or made a game that claimed things about various real religions and also claimed that it was telling the truth. THAT might be a legitimate cause for offense. Or if it were a deliberately similar horrific parody of a real-world faith. Bayonetta's God is female and the angels look like vultures, Buddhas, faceless humanoids, machines... you name it... but not much in it resembles anything like a parody of Christianity, beyond the use of the word "god" and "angels"!

The word "god" and "demon" and "angel" are not exclusively Christian words. They encompass more culturally now than just being definitive terms in a Christian Bible - you can say them to refer to the angels, demons and gods of ANY religion, fictional or otherwise. You hear such terms as "the angel of death" to refer to anything, from a real-life serial killer to a game character... an 'angel' is a 'divine' servant, protector or messenger, not necessarily a Christian entity. The same as a demon is a malevolent one, or a malevolent being, and they exist in almost ALL religions and cultures.

Only to someone without any capacity to imagine or entertain ideas outside of their own box would any story that has a fictional god in it be outrightly offensive or sacrilegious. People who do take such easy offense often tend to section themselves off from potential offence and outside influence anyway.

Nice argument

But I'm more referring to playing as a witch rather than killing so called angels and a female god.

If your willing to prove playing a video game as a witch in not sacrilegious while your at justify Halloween for Jews, Christians, and Muslims(???). Also do Harry Potter (many Christians hate on that too).

I also have a Voodoo doll key chain (its just a key chain about a Voodoo doll) but my Christian friend is afraid to even touch me and some of my non-religious friends are even a bit concerned, like even this chick who is an atheist is even afraid or worried that I do Voodoo, but when I go to church with it hanging around my neck no one says a thing. When I got it I thought it was a black karate guy and a Catholic librarian gave it to me.

 

[V]

Justify Halloween? The truth is that many/most people take whichever parts of custom and faith they want to to heart. That most are not utterly 'devout' observers of all and every rule of whatever religion they are part of, especially when it comes to things that are now cultural, like Halloween. Why do atheists still celebrate Christmas or give gifts? Because a) they want to or don't care about the religious implications b) it is a deeply-engrained cultural habit in Christian countries, and if all your friends and relatives are doing it, you will become an inconvenient oddity if you don't do it as well. Peer pressure, and tradition, in other words, often trump beliefs. Same with Halloween.

I've also got a joke Voodou doll keyring and I've never had anyone pay it any mind, apart from saying it's amusing. Perhaps the people you know are simply superstitious and uninformed. I have quite a few books on Voodou for interest; a lot of the 'power' of Voodou to upset people simply comes from its Western popular culture caricature as 'black magic' or a means to curse people. The same way many people just think 'Satanism' involves depravity and worshipping Satan at a black mass (basing their idea of it on what they have seen in horror movies or heard in popular culture). Voodou is a legitimate religion in its home turf and it is not all about cursing people and sticking pins in dolls. Far from it.

Harry Potter? Well it depends on the person and their beliefs. The Pope has claimed Harry Potter to be a bad influence on Christians and it's his job to denounce it, as the leader of all Catholics and God's living representative, etc.. It does, after all, say in the Bible that witchcraft is forbidden to the faithful. I don't know where you live but where I live I haven't heard a thing about it being hated on, and mine is still a so-called Christian country with Christian values (although many of our calendar celebrations have Pagan roots). I guess we are just less devout/more tolerant/more ambivalent etc. here, or something else that doesn't get us quite so worked up about it. It of course depends on the person how they feel about it. To me, all people's beliefs are equal - but if I was going to get technical, then yes, a technically 'devout' or strict Christian should not endorse witchcraft, Voodou or Halloween, because they aren't part of their faith, nor are they supposed to be accepted and embraced by Christians. Or Muslims, or Jews. But with my realist head on my shoulders I know that none of it is really worth getting worked up about because you'd have to believe in magic and curses and ghosts for any of it to be a big deal, and so I personally think it better that we may have Christians celebrating Halloween, because frankly, it's a benign custom here now and nothing harmful generally comes of it.

Voodou and witchcraft I would say is slightly different. It can cause issue. For example, people were hurt or killed as a result of the Haiti earthquake because some residents believed curses had caused the disaster. As long as people maintain a sensible stance on witchcraft there isn't much of a problem with it, but when people get hysterical about it, you have problems.