Atheism

And the Lord said unto them, "Why should I pay for your healthcare? Get a job. And cut that hair, young man, you look like a girl!"

- Armaments, 17:31

Good job on the Tokugawa Shogunate!

I got too distracted by the bad math writing to even consider the rest of the point.

You know, I bet if those heathens in Japan took a little time to pray to Jesus, they could become a people who destroy themselves too. Makes you think.

Either there is an extra zero or a missing decimal point?

Brother, what is going on with the numbers???

O kind missionary, O compassionate missionary, leave China! Come home and convert these Christians.

-Mark Twain (The United States of Lyncherdom, 1901)

07% vs 5.7%? did they misplace a decimal point?

I hope they meant 0.7% otherwise their whole argument flips.

well, they say the poors should be happy as their suffering make them closer to god. And so it is in fact a great chance for them to be poor. They will do a little charity and pray for them. Somewhere, poors should thanks the richest for not letting them get richer nor even have a decent life... Common, please, stop believing this is just a lie by the richest to keep a social order overly at their own benefits ; it is a religion for peace and harmony

Maybe some day as a culture we will have the understanding to acknowledge that Christianity is the problem. Christianity only works if the world perishes, and every day it works to bring that closer.

Even when I was a Christian, I already thought Japan not having been Christianised is the best thing that happened for the country (not that it excuses what feudal Japan did to the Christians though).

This is a terrible argument… Just look to South Korea for the exact opposite example. 31% Christian, homicide rate at .477 vs Japan’s .229 vs USA’s 5.763, their unhoused population at 2k as well.

And saying % per 100k makes no sense. It’s either x per x people or rate. Not both. Dumb image.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_South_Korea
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
• https://www.columbiamissourian.com/opinion/local_columnists/south-korea-holds-lessons-about-homelessness/article_e124dea4-4e4c-11ee-ade6-030f131d0753.html
• https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-11/in-seouls-piece-rooms-theres-not-even-enough-room-to-lay-down-inside-south-koreas-brutal-housing-crisis#%3A%7E%3Atext=Seoul%2C+a+city+of+around%2Cforms+of+housing%2C+including+jjokbangs

Americans still doing their part in the suicide and homicide rate in Japan.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240821/p2a/00m/0na/014000c

Japan is also a great answer to Pascal's Wager.

In a nutshell — those who know Pascal's Wager can just skip to the next paragraph — Pascal's Wager is that if you die believing God exists and you're wrong, that's better than dying believing God doesn't exist and being wrong. So if God is real and you chose Atheism, you wagered poorly. The problem with Pascal's Wager is that it only works with one religion. With thousands, it falls apart; as any Atheist will tell you, the difference between us and a Christian is less than 1% — we both don't believe in thousands of gods.

Japan alone has thousands of gods, but it does not have a traditional "creation myth." Like many pagan countries, it has many deities; however, none of them are creators. They're all responsible for little things, or small areas. Pretty much each shrine you see is to a different one.

Getting into anime, as one does when Japan is brought up, Noragami is about a god (higher power, not supreme being, so lowercase "g") who is trying to make a name for himself, so he works for ¥5 (less than 1¢, IIRC) doing odd jobs, trying to gain favour among the local populace. (It's a bit of a comedy as he is indirectly responsible for killing a high school girl, so he escorts her spirit around trying to bring him back. He also has a father/son relationship of sorts with a little boy who can turn into a weapon for him, though it's not really a fighting anime. His last "weapon" was a teenage girl who left his service in the first episode. The whole anime is comedy/satire.

As for Christians in anime, it's rare but there are stories about them, and they tend to stand out. The Colors Within advertises itself as a movie about a girl who can see colours in people's hearts, but that's barely mentioned once or twice. It's more about a Catholic girl in Japan who plays music and some in her church are against it.

Then there's Mother's Rosary, the seventh Sword Art Online book. If this were a standalone anime, it would probably be in my top 5. As it is, it's the last 7 episodes of season 2, so it's kind of difficult to get to if you're not a fan of the series. The girl featured in the story and her religion being Catholicism doesn't seem that important, but it does play into the story and it informs some of her choices. I'm sure they could have made it work had she not been Catholic, but that's the story as told.

I don't think most Japanese people believe in a creator, per se, but again, like pagans, they do have minor gods they pray to for things like the weather, harvest, luck, and whatnot.