What happened in Crystallised?
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It really bothers me! I get that Christians like that exist, but have these authors never met a nice, reasonable Christian? Why are they making us all seem bad?
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Her mother is like this strict Christian and doesn’t want her daughter (The Mc) to like girls. Basically the homophobe stereotype.
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I hate the abuse of the word “stereotype”. There are antagonists in every story, a very little number is religion-driven. There are Christians that are homophobes. I know cause I see it irl, I live in a country where Christianity is the most presented religion, my family is 90% Christian too.
I find it very interesting when character’s negative actions are caused by his religious beliefs. Not because they are religious, but because they see and interpret religious teachings in a certain way that I find fascinating.
As per representation. You have to remember that most community authors are teens, so they lack knowledge and practice to portray characters at all. It’s that thing about early writing. It’s too forward, too “in-da-face”.
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I think it’s important to realize that religion has been used as a tool to SYSTEMATICALLY spread homophobia and sexism in the deep fabrics of our society for centuries. For example some women are controlled from childhood up in their households to be obedient submissive wives under the name of religion. I’m not saying that all Christians are like this but this is a systematic issue hence why stereotypes based on religion exist.
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I see a lot of stories that include evil Christians. In fact, I’ve never read a story so far that I wasn’t involved in that had Christians in it who weren’t the antagonists. That’s the problem for me. It’s not that Christians are portrayed as evil. It’s that people don’t seem capable of writing them any other way
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Stories are a way to escape reality and, for some, to challenge authorities and social constructs people face systematically. Religion is one of many social constructs and naturally it would make sense that people use story telling to challenge social constructs and norms because it offers an escapism from the realities that people face in real life and channel their emotions towards them. Why do stories like les mis do so well? Why do people write about injustice and challenging authorities? A reality for many people is that religion has been used as a tool for systematic injustice against them. I think it’s important to show compassion to those people who faced injustice at the hands of people manipulating religion for their own benefit because they are telling their story which is indirectly or directly influenced off of their own experiences and perception. Disclaimer: I’m not saying all religious people are like this and there are many stories from different perspectives that show Christians/Muslims/Jews in a good light!
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I don’t think Christians are very interesting just on their own xD I mean. As long as your actions aren’t motivated by religion, your religion is a bit irrelevant (well, not for you personally obviously, but for others).
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You don’t need a story about Christians. But it is definitely saying something that people think you do. I have characters in my story who happen to be christians but have other stuff going on in their lives. Like me. My Christianity doesn’t make up my identity. It makes up a small part of it! And I’m certainly not homophobic or sexist or racist.
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I think the reason we write stories is a lot more nuanced than that. There are hundreds of reasons why we write, and escapism or challenging authorities are just small facets. We also use stories to make sense of the world around us, reflect our reality in a way that invokes empathy from others, ask questions, portray the world we want to see, extrapolate parts of our reality for closer analysis, etc.
And since stories aren’t written in a vacuum
and they reflect real life (even fantasy), it’s worrying that practicing Christians and many other religions are disproportionately portrayed as bad people.
Especially considering stories tend to draw from Christian symbolism. People seen as “good” are often lukewarm Christian-influenced agnostics.
But even more than that, there are over 1 billion Christians on the planet. Sure, some might see Christianity as an authority they need to break away from. In fact, I’m sure many people do! But there are still a billion of us with the potential to tell stories that paint Christians in a good — or even neutral — light. So where are they?
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I keep religion out of my story. but I am Christian though atheist properly fit better. so is everyone in my family. we dont go to church or such. most people I know doesn’t.
I think most people only see the American version of the church where it is very diffrent where I live. even the few people I meet who actually believe in god and go to church are very nice.
Actually, when I had problems at home and could not be there some of my moms regligios friends did let me stay at there house.
they never tried to make me go to church or believe in god.
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added religion tag 
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Very useful, so bump
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Bump
@anon80318563 hi! so i know this post is like old as dirt but i just felt like i should like lyk i’m christian too 
that whole scene and the whole issue with jay and his family is just like… conflict to move the side plot along! i have nothing against my religion. so i just thought i should lyk it’s not like that i’m just tryna add in some conflict, okay! but thank you for sharing that omg it actually helps out a lot! 
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Thanks for replying!! 
Since it’s hard to find Christian representation in stories, I was kind of sad because I thought that the MC was making fun of Christians because Jay’s uncle was a bad representation of Christianity. But thank you so much for explaining that part!
P.S. I can’t wait for season 2 of MOHHL 
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Bump.
I wish episode authors would portray Christianity in a more positive light.
Closed due to inactivity