General Chat XXXIX: Reading Rainbow Returns Edition.

ColumbianLoom wrote:

Darth Luna wrote:You guys really think you've suffered for being christian? I mean seriously?

Pffffff Luna, to say that we don't get shit for being christian is an extremely ignorant statement. Have you turned on the news lately? Religion gets demonized all the damn time. That's a fact.

Usually in the same way most things are demonized; The Vocal Minority.

Darth Luna wrote:I never said there isn't some backlash against Christianity. Then again, backlash is far different from oppression, but my point is that you're coming off as having suffered greatly for being christian and my point is that you don't know what real discrimination is. Being a Christian in the US....that's far and away one of the least discriminated against things.

But as I pointed out in my prior post, Discrimination against Christianity seemingly gets a free pass as compared to most other kinds of discrimination.  That in an of itself is a very disturbing and dangerous thing.

Darth Luna wrote:I never said there isn't some backlash against Christianity. Then again, backlash is far different from oppression, but my point is that you're coming off as having suffered greatly for being christian and my point is that you don't know what real discrimination is. Being a Christian in the US....that's far and away one of the least discriminated against things.

I understand where it is coming from though. The worse of Faith is always highlighted and anytime someone does something very good in the name of Faith, people still backlash it. We never or rarely see good news about those who have Faith but they always plaster the pedophiles and the idiots on the news and interwebz because the loud idiots are always more attractive than those who actually do good. That's the problem.

It's like the police. Everyone demonizes them because all we are shown are the bad. We never or rarely see the good and when the good is shown the reaction is "they are just doing their jobs so who cares"

I don't think Koenig was stating that he felt oppressed at all, he just said that at times he feels offended that anime usually always portrays religion as a bad thing and then went on to say that religion is usually looked down upon.

And, as Mazer said, Christians are usually looked at as "ignorant caveman." And that's just how it is. To say that it isn't that bad or that it doesn't exist is just not true.

He's just feeling discriminated, not oppressed. I get it because I've run into the same problems he has.

^^^

Though it was not my intention for this to turn into another religious debate, those never end well...

Koenig wrote:^^^

Though it was not my intention for this to turn into another religious debate, those never end well...

*wags bible angrily at the air*

Koenig wrote:
But as I pointed out in my prior post, Discrimination against Christianity seemingly gets a free pass as compared to most other kinds of discrimination.  That in an of itself is a very disturbing and dangerous thing.

-Mazer wrote:

Darth Luna wrote:I never said there isn't some backlash against Christianity. Then again, backlash is far different from oppression, but my point is that you're coming off as having suffered greatly for being christian and my point is that you don't know what real discrimination is. Being a Christian in the US....that's far and away one of the least discriminated against things.

I understand where it is coming from though. The worse of Faith is always highlighted and anytime someone does something very good in the name of Faith, people still backlash it. We never or rarely see good news about those who have Faith but they always plaster the pedophiles and the idiots on the news and interwebz because the loud idiots are always more attractive than those who actually do good. That's the problem.

It's like the police. Everyone demonizes them because all we are shown are the bad. We never or rarely see the good and when the good is shown the reaction is "they are just doing their jobs so who cares"

^ Both of these

Koenig wrote:^^^

Though it was not my intention for this to turn into another religious debate, those never end well...

There's three things you never bring up at the dinner table: Politics, money, and religion.

Enough to lay claim to a "persecution complex" over it, though? Just count yourself lucky you get some discrimination for just that an not something else.
Also, this is just bringing into conversation the way you get treated, imagine the messaging you receive as a kid. Believing in God is "normal," and being a Christian is normal. If you're not a christian, at least you still believe in god, if neither you get bombarded with messages from pop culture and everywhere about how odd you are.

Koenig wrote:^^^

Though it was not my intention for this to turn into another religious debate, those never end well...

It's all good, mate ^-^ It's nice to have a good debate with one another every once and again

Darth Luna wrote:Enough to lay claim to a "persecution complex" over it, though? Just count yourself lucky you get some discrimination for just that an not something else.
Also, this is just bringing into conversation the way you get treated, imagine the messaging you receive as a kid. Believing in God is "normal," and being a Christian is normal. If you're not a christian, at least you still believe in god, if neither you get bombarded with messages from pop culture and everywhere about how odd you are.

Well I don't know how religious your parents were, but mine were moderately catholic and my siblings are about split. I have 4 sisters and 1 brother. 2 of my sisters are atheists and then everyone else are catholics.

My mom and dad definitely tried to bring it in the family, but 2 of my sisters didn't like religion at all. It happens. It's not for everyone. Though, I had a mixed message growing up. At home religion was looked at as a good thing, but outside of my house it was looked as a bad thing. I had some very conflicting views when I grew up, not going to lie. It wasn't really a one way street for me.

-Mazer wrote:

Koenig wrote:^^^

Though it was not my intention for this to turn into another religious debate, those never end well...

It's all good, mate ^-^ It's nice to have a good debate with one another every once and again

The inherent problem with debates is that everyone who enters them always have their minds already made up.

-Mazer wrote:

Koenig wrote:^^^

Though it was not my intention for this to turn into another religious debate, those never end well...

It's all good, mate ^-^ It's nice to have a good debate with one another every once and again

Ya for sure. It's good to talk about these things.

I grew up in a very religious family. My dad was a pastor at times. Mum was more moderate, but she was still a believer. My grandmother, on my dad's side, I would categorize as an extremist.

My only request Luna, is that you be mindful of the discrimination we spoke of in the future; you will probably be surprised at what you find.

That's not my issue, I said I recognize that there is discrimination of all sorts. My issue is that you seem to think it's super rampant. I felt a bit taken aback because from my point of view it's been the complete opposite. Christianity has had such a huge domination of my own world, I've grown accustomed to it being "normal."
Trying growing up and having that beaten into you(not literally...always) that being a Christian is normal. Why am I so wrong, then? What is wrong with me? It's scary as hell, same thing happens to those who repress their sexuality.
Do you know that one of the questions, more like a statement, I've been asked is "If you don't believe in god, then do you believe in the devil." It may look like a question, but it's always been an accusation.
Even now, in this supposedly super secular world that you claim discriminates against you for being Christian, my youngest brother has been asked that. He just finished up his first year of high school(he's 15).

Since the subject of the portrayal of religion in anime brought this up, I have another suggestion that I think you'd enjoy. It's a manhua called "Soul Cartel." Well, I don't think it should be offensive, at the least. Also, it's really good....I've been reading it this whole time. @_@

Darth Luna wrote:That's not my issue, I said I recognize that there is discrimination of all sorts. My issue is that you seem to think it's super rampant. I felt a bit taken aback because from my point of view it's been the complete opposite. Christianity has had such a huge domination of my own world, I've grown accustomed to it being "normal."
Trying growing up and having that beaten into you(not literally...always) that being a Christian is normal. Why am I so wrong, then? What is wrong with me? It's scary as hell, same thing happens to those who repress their sexuality.
Do you know that one of the questions, more like a statement, I've been asked is "If you don't believe in god, then do you believe in the devil." It may look like a question, but it's always been an accusation.
Even now, in this supposedly super secular world that you claim discriminates against you for being Christian, my youngest brother has been asked that. He just finished up his first year of high school(he's 15).

I still firmly believe that it is "super rampant", or rather that it is rapidly growing. I can not speak for you or your expediences, but I can speak from my own and I can say with absolute certainty that over the past few years I have seen nothing but contempt for Christianity from the media and society in general. This is not paranoia or a complex, this is pure observation.

Darth Luna wrote:Since the subject of the portrayal of religion in anime brought this up, I have another suggestion that I think you'd enjoy. It's a manhua called "Soul Cartel." Well, I don't think it should be offensive, at the least. Also, it's really good....I've been reading it this whole time. @_@

What is it about? The name sounds familiar.

So Los Angeles must be a much, much more tolerant place for Christianity, because I can tell you that I have not once seen someone get discriminated against for being Christian. No harassment, bullying, nothing.
Not that I haven't seen people be flippant about it, but that's not harassment or discrimination.

As for Soul Cartel, it's about 3 humans forming a contract with the Arch-devil Mephistophelles...well being forced to by him and going to the underworld to fulfill it. 2 of them are siblings and looking for information on their parents, the other one is a reincarnated human who had previously won against the Mephisto. It's pretty good so far, there are 126 chapters out...though it's a webtoon, so format is different from other manhua/manga.

*reads through thread*
Yeesh.

At some points, I agree with Koenig. There's plenty of Japanese RPGS that have Religion beong the end-all bad guy in the game. Must be something like: "that guy made an awesome enemy out of religion! I can do it for my RPG, too!" ... something like that. Mimic the cool guy.

Kind of like how anime can't go 3 episodes in without "fanservice".

?_? looks like I missed a discussion about religion

xXJus10Xx wrote:*reads through thread*
Yeesh.

At some points, I agree with Koenig. There's plenty of Japanese RPGS that have Religion beong the end-all bad guy in the game. Must be something like: "that guy made an awesome enemy out of religion! I can do it for my RPG, too!" ... something like that. Mimic the cool guy.

Kind of like how anime can't go 3 episodes in without "fanservice".

I don't play jrpgs, so I can't even say anything about that. But I dunno, maybe because it's not their culture.

As for fan service in anime....it's not just anime.

Squirrel500 wrote:?_? looks like I missed a discussion about religion

And I've been avoiding it lol

ANYWAYS, I'm on a trip right now and I'll be missing the first day of E3 I'll be driving back on monday.

I think I'll make it back in time for Sony but I will have missed everything else but oh well. I'll have my brother record the conferences and then just marathon through them when I get back. Actually MS's, Ubi's, and EA's shouldn't be that exciting anyways so it's whatever. But I like being there the whole time watching GTTV and all that stuff, but oh well. I might just watch MS's and then that's it.

At least I'll be back for Nintendo's and I'll definitely be in the skype group talking with you guys! I'm going to be on there at like 8:30 am (mountain time) ready for disappointment! My hopes are not high this E3, so hopefully I'll be surprised.

Darth Luna wrote:As for fan service in anime....it's not just anime.

Yeah, I know.

ColumbianLoom wrote:ANYWAYS, I'm on a trip right now and I'll be missing the first day of E3 :(I'll be driving back on monday.

I think I'll make it back in time for Sony but I will have missed everything else but oh well. I'll have my brother record the conferences and then just marathon through them when I get back. Actually MS's, Ubi's, and EA's shouldn't be that exciting anyways so it's whatever. But I like being there the whole time watching GTTV and all that stuff, but oh well. I might just watch MS's and then that's it.

At least I'll be back for Nintendo's and I'll definitely be in the skype group talking with you guys! I'm going to be on there at like 8:30 am (mountain time) ready for disappointment! My hopes are not high this E3, so hopefully I'll be surprised.

have fun on your trip loom