Discussion: Representation of Christianity in Stories

Writing Desk Archive
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My major problem with authors who ignore the stuff that came before them is that no story is written in a vacuum. And while no individual author is responsible for a whole stereotype, there is a reason why they exacerbate existing ones as opposed to challenging the notions that already exist. A lot of it is subconscious, but even if the author had no clue about societal expectations, it would be a problem if, say, all of the Christians in their story act badly in the same way. Authors should be able to write what they want to write, but I will still have an issue with stories that exacerbate stereotypes without a thought or a care. It just shows me that the author isn’t aware of the world they’re writing in — and that separates a good story from a great one, or even a classic!

In terms of the homosexuality being a sin thing, it was randomly included in the list of sinful sexual acts that the bible lists back in the 50s. My bible doesn’t have that addition because I actively seek out bibles that don’t. Usually, the list includes thinks like pedophilia and beastialty, which are fair enough for me

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I suppose it depends on the denomination. I’m a Protestant Christian and my church teaches creation as in Genesis. I haven’t been to a church that doesn’t teach it, but there probably are denominations or churches that don’t.

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Not sure what that is.

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I know what u mean.

I guess the problem with including religion in a story for me, is that in all my personal relationships, the people who are just normal Christians, show it in their actions but rarely EVER talk about it. So if include the normal Christian (that I’m used to without exaggerating her) youd probably not even notice.
My whole family believes in god but doesnt bring it up unless theres a reason which there rarely ever is unless theres a death or someone is sick or something.

My boyfriends family is a lot more religious. His dad will randomly say stuff like “thank the lord for this beautiful day.” And “wow that sunset, can you believe god did that?” But other than that, only comes up in arguments and then he sounds like the crazy person in these stories.

My step mom only talked about god when we were at church but when I stopped going with her, I didnt ever hear about it. outside of church she was a wild, loud biker lady. She talked more about it while she was dying I guess. So if she were in my story, you might not guess shes christian unnless I involved conversation before she dies or if you’re super close and go to church with her. Little things like seeing a bible on her nightstand might be enough to show she is religious.

But people sometimes say that’s not realistic to not talk about your religion. But i think it is. Everyone has different experiences. We’re from completely different parts of the world. and my experiences are just as good.

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I think I need to stay away from these topics.
I know it’s important to represent everyone correctly, and I can get carried away trying to defend everyone.

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I don’t think you get carried away. Plus, a thread is for everyone to speak on their views. It’s fine you want to. No one should stop you.

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I appreciate that, I Just worry that I will be seen as someone who doesn’t care about some of these issues when I do.

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I don’t think anyone thinks that way about you. To me atleast, it seems like you do really care and are being mindful. :heart:

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Honestly I think you have a point. It’s the exact same issue as involving a trans character if they aren’t pre-transition like. How will you know?

I think little things here and there are generally what can help. Like if a character can’t do something a specific day because of church, maybe if a younger sibling/child/friend’s chil/sibling gets baptised. Stuff like that quite naturally fits into character writing but trying to make someone’s religion obvious when they’re pretty moderate is really difficult

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What if Christianity was represented in the right manner and the correct way in stories? A lot of people are ignorant and unaware of the Christian religion, so you can really get mad at them for that. People just don’t know. We can educate them about the Christian religion, but other than that, their views on Christians will come off stereotypical :woman_shrugging:t4: If you read a story where the author doesn’t represent the Christian character correctly, then tell them their mistakes; they have to be aware of them. Yes, it sucks reading stories where Christianity isn’t showed and portrayed in the correct manner; I completely understand. What can you do? All we can do is try to educate that author so they know what their mistakes are. People may not agree with me, but that’s how I feel.

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I get that completely! Often when you try to make it clear that the person is religious, it can seem forced or out of place. I had this problem with a Jewish character in my story, too!

Especially considering Christians don’t usually wear anything super obvious that would give away their religion. Like how a hijab is quite common in Islam. I mean, crosses aren’t even specifically worn by Christians!

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I portray Christians the way I see them around me. And I come from a country that is mostly Christian. So a lot of them are actually homophobic, especially elders.

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I agree that Christians are not all discriminatory and hateful (I mean, that’s true of every religious group, imo, even as an agnostic with a bit of distrust of religion). However, I think that Christians and non-Christians alike use “Christianity” as almost a monolith to mean Christian people they know personally, but the word “Christian” means different things to different people as there are so many divisions! @anon80318563 , you said you are Protestant Christian but to my knowledge there are tons of sub-distinctions beneath that, like Lutheran, Episcopal/Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, to name a few, and to me, Protestant just means not Catholic. I’ve even hear Catholics be called not Christian (yep, the US was/is pretty sh*tty to Catholics).

And so yes, many churches are openly accepting of LGBT+ people that I couldn’t even name all the types of churches I saw with that sign outside in NYC including Presbyterian, Episcopal, Unitarian, even some Catholic Churches given the most recent pope.

I don’t personally think that their negative portrayals on Episode constitute a larger problem for Christians the way that negative media portrayals of other protected groups do as Christians tend to be a majority (of course this depends where you are, but worldwide they are at least a plurality and in the US, where Episode is based, they are definitely a majority).

To me, it sounds like a writing problem in the majority of cases where specific characters are not developed beyond their stereotype. So this folds into the problem of representation, where people should do more research and better work on the settings in which their stories are placed, but given how many people out there that do have these beliefs, I’d say Christians also have their work cut out for them distancing themselves from people who do say/do/believe hateful things and use words distorted from the Bible.

Also, I think I’ve only encountered one Episode story with a Christian mom and she only espoused modesty, not hate, so I might feel differently if I had read many that did portray Christians as 100% homophobic.

Sorry if this is offensive, I think this is one of the more controversial opinions I hold…

i have a ton of biases, so sorry for that. Personally, one of the reasons I don’t think I’d ever identify as a Christian is sharing a label with the many hateful people I’ve encountered over the years who are but it’s easy for me to say as an agnostic, since I doubt the existence of god anyway. I also think I have more distain for Christianity (as a whole, not individuals) than I do other religions because I was raised in it and am familiar with its pitfalls in a way that I couldn’t with other religions I’ve learned about as an outsider.

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This is so true. And then within each denomination, you have movements that agree and disagree with different things. Plus different political agendas and beliefs.

For example, I’m a Catholic — but I’m a left wing catholic. I believe the Church should be making provisions to start looking into female priests and I’m upset that the Pope, who is so liberal, isn’t willing to make that step. There is a whole movement of Catholics fighting for female priests!

On top of that, I’m pro-choice, I believe that there is nothing sinful at all about sex before marriage or homosexuality or being trans. I agree with divorce, but I do believe people should try their utmost to work at things if it isn’t a case of abuse or infidelity.

I’m a feminist because I see that there are many places that still need feminism — including the church, which didn’t abolish women having to cover their heads in church and make it a choice until the 60s. I don’t think women are lesser or weaker than men because I follow Jesus who treated women and men the same

I’m Catholic because I believe that Catholicism has the most truth to it, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I agree with all of their doctrine! And there are many Catholics just like me.

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The problem Is that there isn’t only one way to portray a Christian because they call be very different.

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That is very true.

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I understand your point of view, and I agree that in all religions there are hateful people who use their religion as an excuse to commit all kinds of evil hate crimes. However, the label Christian for me means ‘follower of Christ’, so I follow Jesus’ teachings, not the actions of other people who share the label with me.

The reason I prefer to say Protestant is because my church is non-denominational. Not Baptist nor pentecostal, nor Presbyterian or any other sub-denomination.

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Ah, ok, yes I forgot about non-denominational in my list but I have been to a non-denominational church before. One of my best friends growing was that. Thanks for clarifying!

And yes, I wish more people would follow that since I do think that if people really followed the teachings of Jesus - loving thy neighbor and all that, the world would be better. But yep, people get in the way. Hopefully we can figure out how to be nice to one another.

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A popular story called Crystallized messed up with this too. My friend pointed out it does represent Christians in a bad light and I agree and it blatantly shows. I like the story but it does.

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I agree… also there was a scene in Mystery on Hanging Hill Lane where this guy has a Christian uncle that made a comment that he and the MC didn’t like, and well… after they left this uncle’s office, the MC’s friend referred to his uncle as “a bag of %$/$#”, and the MC agreed. This is exactly why I never play as myself in CC stories. And I really like Mystery on Hanging Hill Lane, but I did not like that scene.

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