2-The way religion is portrayed in anime never made me feel unconformable, to me it’s like any other subject like sports for example. If it’s well portrayed I like it if not i don’t like it. Although I must say for a country were most people are Buddhist/Shintoist there is sure a lot Christianity themed anime

3- No idea, I am really tolerant so I pretty much accept anything. Probably the only thing I wouldn’t accept is religious propaganda in anime or an anime that says “hey this religion it’s better than the others”

2. I’m always interested in religious portrayal in an anime, regardless of what religion it is. Doesn’t really stop me if they make Christianity a bad thing cuz i know in my heart that being christian isn’t a bad thing. >_>

3. the only line i’d draw is if they made God or Jesus gay. =\ (I know that sounded homophobic, but whatever, I’m not gonna debate it with anyone, even if i get jumped. )

2. Are you comfortable with how religion is portrayed in anime? If so, does it make the show interesting? entertaining?
A. Comfortable? I often LOL. See NGE and Chrno Crusade. Shows a complete heyday with Biblical/Christian symbolism. NGE even screwed up its Biblical references in a epic manner.

3. If you were to draw a line, what is/should be taboo?
A. It’s all in the viewer’s perception. I don’t take the references seriously, so it doesn’t bother me too much.
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As to:
1. The similarity of unusual religious practices to pop fanaticism:
On the outside, yes, they are very similar. But they are focused differently. Pop fanaticism is directed toward a person or product, physically available, and so can change or decrease with time and changes in society. Religious devotism (not a word), however, is directed toward either concepts or spiritual entities, and usually has related concepts (eg religious laws) involved. This allows it to stick around longer, as people treat it more sacredly, teach it to others, etc.

2. The ‘Black Jesus’ mentioned in the blog:
It’s all about representation and localization. There’s nothing wrong with it (from a Catholic perspective at least) because the focus is the same, it’s just displayed differently. In most modern (read past 300 years) religious apparitions, the one appearing was localized — they spoke the language of the person they appeared to, etc. See Guadalupe. So if Christ and the Saints do it, what can be wrong? Yeah, a great argument, but it works.

1)No, I am a catholic by culture and I identify myself with my fellow catholics even I don’t really share their sometimes excessive devotion.
2) I always interested in the way anime portrays Shintoism and Bhuddism. It can be interesting, even if it’s not the focus of the story, the way it can be seamlessly blend in the story is interesting. But anything related to non-asian religions tend bore me, because most of the time it’s slightly ridiculous: huge crosses, weird clothes,mysterious organizations with links to the Vatican, most of it is completely over the top.

3)I don’t draw any line. Well, even if a hentai showed Jesus having sex with an angelic loli, I still wouldn’t care. They have no taste but that’s all.
3

Some factual corrections here.

1. The nun, as we know it, came from misintepretation of the Bible somewhere around the 10th-12th century CE, partly due to the Crusades. It could be earlier, but I can’t remember, nor have the time to check it out. For some reason, the Roman Catholic Church absorbed the monastic traditions and that’s how the Roman Catholic Nun came to being, most notably Mother Teresa.

2. Japan has been secularizing themselves at a frenzied pace, starting from the Tokugawa Era. They are slowly losing the meaning of even their own polythesistic beliefs, reducing them to mere obligatory practices.

3. Jesus was not born in December, but in June. June 6, to be precise. For those of you in the audience, yes, the famed date was chosen to compete with the worship of Mithras in those days, but they also chose the date simply because no one actually remembered when Jesus was born. Just as the Bible does not state actual dates for the creation of the Universe and the Exodus (thus leading me to think we might have to tack on an extra 300 years from the Exodus to the fall of Jericho), the writers of the New Testament simply did not write this date down because the act was more important than the date.

4. I’m not too uncomfortable with the portrayal of religion in animé. Partly because the worst offender is actually a Korean manga, and partly because I understand why, and partly because the Roman Catholics got there first

a) I want to believe in God, but I cant believe in religion. My family is 1/3 catholic, 1/3 buddhist and 1/3 atheist. I setled in the midle as a neutral zone.
b) That is very general question, the correct answer can be ”depends of the anime”, but if you want a direct answer: No and No.

2. Are you comfortable with how religion is portrayed in anime? If so, does it make the show interesting? entertaining?

Aside of Hentai that can be REALLY bizarre, I think that anime is soft compared with South Park and Family Guy about catholic stuff. I have no problem, In fact I find amusing how Shintoism is portrayed in Lucky Star. Wait a sec… we are talking about Xmas in Japan or about religion in anime?

3. If you were to draw a line, what is/should be taboo?

Hmm… (scratching head) maybe playing with a cross in the mosaic zone?

A little of topic:
Talking about idols and religion, I remember two cases in southamerica of popular Singers that after they died in car accidentes their fans made them ”pseudo catholic saints”.

Yes I’m comfortable with it you shouldn’t be such a hardcore believer as to where you discriminate or hate otherwise you’re doing something that most religions frown upon to some level. The way that ‘religous’ holidays are portrayed in anime amuse me but if you think about it even in America it is getting to a point of nothing to do with religion little by little.

Would never draw a line why cripple a person’s creativity?

I mean, unless they choose to animate Ravages of Time. No way in hell some guy with a sword is going to touch Guan Yu or Lu Bu besides Zhao Yun, let alone beat them.

Anime will never respect Christianity because the ones who make it would not know who St. Peter is (until he sends them all to hell, mwuhahahahaha) and as such they can take the same liberties with their scant understanding. Had their grasp been better then we would have a much more interesting use of Catholic history with the Crusades, and Knights Templar. Besides all they really care about are Nuns and the sexualization of them. Also Goths and emo go hand in hand and use of the cross is indeed liberal. Overall Religion and dogma have never made much headway in Japan historically, they had a rich history of Sohei (Warrior Monks) kicking the shit out of samurai, but that is hardly dwelled upon in anime.

There’s no real point in drawing the line since they will unwittingly cross multiple times and then loop back to do it again…

There are no atheists in foxholes, but because we fox hole dwellers are a cynical bunch, perhaps Jesus was better off staying alive and helping the poor, rather than die for a bunch of ungrateful and idiotic apes.