Talk:Church/@comment-23825768-20130928020330/@comment-99.45.92.120-20140227122604

I think part of this may have to do with how Asians in general view "Religion" as a term. In the west, we generally speak of people beign Religious, or Atheists, as if Atheism is a rejection of Religion. But we complicate it by letting some people who beleive in a god or gods be "Non-Religious" too, or "Siritual, but not Religious." STill, in general one is Religious if one beleives in a god, and especially if one identifies with a specific thing we regard as a Relgion. WHile we may treat it as Clearly defined, the way we actually use the word "Relgiion" is pretty loose at Times. Still, we basicklaly agree that peopel identify with specific Theistic beleifs ar Religious.

In Japan, and CHina, and most Asian Nations, people in general claim not to be Religious. Often Internet Atheists (You know the type, the Dawkinsesqe "Religion is Evil' in yoru face kind that have made a Religion out of hating Religion, not just some bloke who thinks there's no God) claim them as "Atheist" nations, but the Truth is moe complicated. To a Japanese, or Chinese, or most Asians, beign Religious is o be a formal member of a specific Institution. It has little to nothign to do with ones actual beleifs, and most Asians treat Religious Ideas as Philosophical ones, and present it as a Buffet. People pick what they beelive out of a host of beleif systems, foten customisign them to their own ideas as well. The end result is we get a Non-Religious Japanese man who routinely stops by Shrines to ask for guidance and protction form Ancestrial Spirits and another who reads the Bible, Koran, and Buddhist Script and thinks they were all discussing the same thign from different perspectives.

While I'm not saying there are no Atheists in Japan, I am sayign that Religion in general is treated differently there.

But, as with most things, Western Ideas have spread tot he East, and one such idea is the concept of Evil Christianity dominatign the Middle Ages as a Dictatorian force. This is largley a misconception about the Middle Ages, as are most things we hodl in COmmon Knowledge such as short Lifespans, COnstant Wars, or Starvign Peasants, but its tsill part of the overal unerstanding we hve of the Middle Ages that's part of the Mythos. It may not be accurate History, but tis a popular udnedrtandign of it. Of coruse, the Japanse don't share that History so they ae farther removed from it, so I think when shows like Spice And Wolf, or for that matter Scrapped Princess, come along, its the same idea of Christianity beign this evil, and ultimatly wrogn force used to control peopel that was spoken of by the Enlightenment, but out of context with what Christainity actuaslly is, sort of isolated from the True Cultrual Understandign of those events.