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Answerman - How Is Christianity Regarded In Japan?

Christianity has been the punching bag of American citizens for years.

Christians like to act like they're an oppressed minority.

I was specifically talking about Christianity in popular media, in which case my point still stands.

Then again, as a University student in the US, I can say that young people like to complain about how Christianity is "oppressing" them.

FloozyGod wrote:

Are you joking? The Handmaid's Tale is entirely about shitting on Christianity. Christianity has been the punching bag of American citizens for years.

Handmaid's Tale is attacking a certain flavor of Christianity, not Christianity itself. Not to mention, Margaret Atwood is Canadian.

I finding the use of the word “worm” to be very rude in this type of article (Lots of aspects of Christianity have wormed their way into Japanese culture, particularly in the years since the American occupation.) It makes it seem like Christianity is a negative thing. You may not be religious (or are another kind of religion), but I feel that “have influenced Japanese culture” is better in this kind of article.

FloozyGod wrote:

Are you joking? The Handmaid's Tale is entirely about shitting on Christianity. Christianity has been the punching bag of American citizens for years.

I agree. Making fun or mocking Christianity is pretty common these days Perhaps a few decades ago it was taboo, but these days the only religion you're not allowed to mock is Islam/Muslims. Christianity is fair game to berate and disrespect in American media and culture.

Utsuro no Hako wrote:

FloozyGod wrote: Are you joking? The Handmaid's Tale is entirely about shitting on Christianity. Christianity has been the punching bag of American citizens for years. Handmaid's Tale is attacking a certain flavor of Christianity, not Christianity itself. Not to mention, Margaret Atwood is Canadian.

It’s more attacking religious fundamentalism, and the fact that combining religion and government often leads to an erosion of civil liberties. In Handmaid’s Tale, the dominant religion is Christianity simply because it’s the dominant religion in the US, which is where the story takes place (albeit a distopian future “America”.). The same story could just as easily be told with any religion, especially the Abrahamic ones. It just wouldn’t make much sense with Islam or Judaism in this case.

When taken to extreme lengths of Biblical purity, the Abrahamic religions are all very similar. They are after all based one upon the other. The big differences lie in the fact that fundamental Christian and Jewish sects have largely been prevented from controlling secular western governments, unlike how fundamental Islamic sects have taken control of many governments in the Middle East and Africa.

The basic warning of a Handmaid’s Tale is “don’t think what happens in fundamentalist regimes can never happen here.” The religion at the center of the story is largely irrelevant.
The religion was never the problem. It was the puritanical extremes it was taken to.

I finding the use of the word “worm” to be very rude in this type of article (Lots of aspects of Christianity have wormed their way into Japanese culture

Christians like to act like they're an oppressed minority, and in certain parts of the world and certain points in history it is the case, but mostly it isn't. Especially in America. There's no scandal at the thought that the President might be a Christian, or talk of Christian bans because a Christian performed a terrorist act, or hatred of Christians in the banking system, etc. Christians are more likely to cop hatred about their faith from other sects of Christianity than they are other religions or atheists.

Christians like to act like they're an oppressed minority, and in certain parts of the world and certain points in history it is the case, but mostly it isn't. Especially in America.

The Handmaid's Tale is based on the idea of an extremist Christian cult-like sect taking over part of the United States in a Dystopian future.

Uh... "insinuate" itself has negative connotations. "Wormed" does indeed have negative connotations. Whether those connotations were intended is a different matter. Personally, I don't think the author consciously was attempting to be negative when selecting that word.

Agent355 wrote:

The Handmaid's Tale is based on the idea of an extremist Christian cult-like sect taking over part of the United States in a Dystopian future.

If someone wants to have a religious government in a story why not use one of them that actually exist instead of making up a fictional Christian government?