Religion in comics

any thoughts on the subject.

Nightcrawler obviously comes to mind (for me anyways) was an interesting play on the concept of religion. While character's like Warren worthington looked like the biblical depictions of Angels, he never seemed to have an ounce of religion in him, but then Nichtcrawler looks like a demon, and yet was so heavily Catholic. mind you he wasn't always written that way, but it was never a secret. Then there's Dust, always liked her, and I like how the writers seem to work hard at depicting her accurately as a muclim (though I haven't read much on her lately admittedly so)

so how much place does religion have in comics?

The Lucifer series is one of my all-time favorite titles.

" so how much place does religion have in comics? " 
 
Same as the real world so long that it is not used to cause propaganda.

@tron_bonne: I can't think of any other reason people use religion.

Extremely surprised people like Thor or Mephisto weren't mentioned in the OP
 
I rather enjoyed the arc in Ultimate X-Men where Angel debuts...it had a lot of religous controversy among the story, It was great way to modernize the characters situation as it might be perceived in the real world

I wouldn't know that, but I wished religious types in the real world would accept evolution or read a book by Charles Darwin if need be. there is no such thing as "God". it is the 21st century and you'd think everyone would of turned their backs on the self contradicting propaganda that is the holy bible by now. sadly ignorance is rampant even today.

@tron_bonne said:

" so how much place does religion have in comics? " Same as the real world so long that it is not used to cause propaganda.

Agreed. You can say or do whatever you want as long as you're not forcing your beliefs down my throat like the fat guy on Se7en.

@ithinkitwasyou said:

@tron_bonne: I can't think of any other reason people use religion.

It can impel people to act ethically among other things.

@HughJass said:

@ithinkitwasyou said:

@tron_bonne: I can't think of any other reason people use religion.

It can impel people to act ethically among other things.

The Abrahamic religions (I'm just going to discuss them since they are the largest religions and when most talk about religion they are talking about the Christian religion unless they specify otherwise), aren't the models of ethical behaviour that people make them out to be, there's some good stuff of course- don't steal, don't kill, etc.- but there's also alot of rape and murder that is justified as being right with god, women are treated like property, "you may stone a disobedient child." People overlook this when they talk about the bible in terms of ethics and when you bring it up they always say that it was just a sign of the times, which is true, but it doesn't make the bible any more of a viable ethical source book. We've come along way in the past 2000 years so I don't understand why people think we need to defer to an ancient text for our ethics. Religion can also impel people to act very unethically, see genocide.

It's always good to start the day off with a little tirade.

I think it's important to make a distinction between Religion and Spirituality right off the bat. Spirituality absolutely has a place in comics. It lends to character depth and dimensionality. Organized religion also has a place as long as it is carefully considered. Because from a historical standpoint, organized religion really has just been a series of political power plays that utilize spirituality to achieve it's own ends. Of course I'm speaking in generalities and on a small scale this simply isn't always true. But if it is honestly portrayed and interestingly portrayed then I have total faith that the particular comic story will work. Plus I love the more obscure aspects of certain religions. Demonology, Numerology, Conspiracy Theory etc... they are all interesting. I think the challenge is left up to the accuser to provide examples of when Religion is truly inappropraite to incorporate into Comicdom. Because until I can be truly convinced I'll just see religion as a very powerful storytelling tool and an everpresent aspect of our everyday lives.

@Thelonious_Funk: exactly

Fix

Fix

@tron_bonne said:

@The Dark Huntress said:

Fix

What did you fix? 0_o

Every now and then CV randomly bugs out and regurgitates old topics. It bumps them to the top of their respective forum without any posting in them and for the most recent post it doesn't display any name or how long ago they were posted in. Until somebody posts in them, they stay stuck in that bumped position. So if you see me or somebody else posting "fix", what that usually us is us posting in it so that it can fall back down.

0_0 Oh so that's what those blank spaces mean when a thread is afloat.

So I was reading the first Batwoman trade yesterday and I noticed she was Jewish. I can not name any other Jewish superheroes off the top of my head, that seems like a big deal being one of the few. Everyone makes a big deal about her being a lesbian and representing a underrepresented demographic but that outshines he religion.

Its not often you see this guy in comics...

Religion and comics actually have alot in common. They are both made up fables involving powerful beings.

Also in Shadowpact they had lots of stuff about heaven and hell.

Preacher took it to a new level.

@Primmaster64 said:

Its not often you see this guy in comics...

lol wow

@Primmaster64 said:

@difficlus: You do know who that is right?

well yeah...

I wouldn't know that, but I wished religious types in the real world would accept evolution or read a book by Charles Darwin if need be. there is no such thing as "God". it is the 21st century and you'd think everyone would of turned their backs on the self contradicting propaganda that is the holy bible by now. sadly ignorance is rampant even today.

@aliensoldier105: wow...

ya, i believe in evolution AND God, and if you knew anything about Charles Darwin, he was a very religious man (but did stop after some problems with the Chruch) Einstein believed in God to a point, it was a priest that discovered that the universe expanded. what u said is onesided, bias, and completely ignorant. try to practice what you preach

@higher_evolutionary: ya, they always seem to

@Superguy0009e: You try to practice what you preach, you're saying you believe in evolution and the christian god at the same time when the bible is full of contradictions to actual events like Adam & Eve being the first two humans on the planet, with no mentioning of apes or dinosaurs existing before them. or that this planet was formed by the accretion of matter billions of years ago. not made in 6 days by some imaginary old man sitting on the clouds. I'm not biased, I'm just stating the facts. also wouldn't you agree that it is pointless to worship someone that allows sentient living beings to suffer and cease to exist entirely as a result of disease, serious injury, murder, mental illness leading to suicide and old age? there is simply no purpose in life if we were born only to become part of the soil again one day. However that's just the harshness of reality bud and we can't use fairy tales to try to mitigate the bad things that have happened in life, only for comfort. and the burden is on YOU to justify your faith.

But as a well spoken atheist. I'm afraid I have to say that science has done more good things for humanity than religion ever will. god didn't make that computer you are using, the parts were fabricated in factories after being designed by educated and successful programmers and physicists. the bible does NOTHING but teach people to be monsters and take other peoples lives thereby taking away someones father, mother, son, daughter, friend. I take it you've never heard of Salem witch trials.

try watching videos by thunderf00t on Youtube.

@aliensoldier105: i appreciate the effort, but i am not actually going to read this one-sided s***, it only goads people like u on.

have a good life dip s***

Stay classy, folks.

@Superguy0009e: "have a good life dip s***" wow and I suppose your life is so much better and more important than everyone else's here? see this is why I cannot respect religion anymore, as it turns out, the nasty book turns people into egotistical pigs like you and I'm sick of it. I suppose you want atheists beheaded now? least I know the difference between reality and fiction. you should make the most of this one precious life that we've all got because trust me, when we're rotting in the ground no one will even remember our names. I'm done with this topic. see ya.

@aliensoldier105 said:

I wouldn't know that, but I wished religious types in the real world would accept evolution or read a book by Charles Darwin if need be. there is no such thing as "God". it is the 21st century and you'd think everyone would of turned their backs on the self contradicting propaganda that is the holy bible by now. sadly ignorance is rampant even today.

I don't really care what you believe in, but calling people ignorant because they believe in a higher power and do not share your views of atheism is unacceptable. It's an issue of faith. Not ignorance. Religious people are not stupid, so don't treat them as if they are. You can do it anywhere else, but not here.

@Superguy0009e said:

@aliensoldier105: i appreciate the effort, but i am not actually going to read this one-sided s***, it only goads people like u on.

have a good life dip s***

Stop that.

Religion does seem to be a prevalent force in comics as we've seen the Greek and Norse Gods appear as well as spiritual deities like Rama Kushna who seem to represent religions like Buddhism. However, a lot of the 'gods' seen in comics are just extremely powerful extraterrestrials or something of that ilk. There's also the supposed 'God' of that universe such as the Prescence in the case of DC and thw One Above All in Marvel. I remember some issues of Teen Titans where Wally is open about his faith. So basically religion is discussed a great deal in comics as are other major talking points of discussion across the world.

@Static Shock: Look, I was going to let this go but then you come and reply to me about it with an unnecessary lecture. so here we go and please pay attention because I'm only going to bring this up this one last time. I appreciate your tone in your post and the fact that you're trying to stop us from arguing about this. However I am entitled to my own opinion, same as you are. freedom of speech is fine and it's not something I have a problem with, but when it comes to issues like this, then sorry, I just think believing in a higher power sounds ridiculous to me in an apocalyptic, yet a somewhat scientifically advanced world such as ours today. you're telling me that it is normal to believe in a "divine presence" when there are problems with it? well I will tell you how it is. just saying for the sake of it, if there is a "god", he either is too preoccupied or too powerless to put an end to the worlds problems that had nothing to do with us two like terrorism, financial meltdown, natural disasters like the magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan that caused a tsunami. including other negative things on a lower scale which still can have an impact on your life such as how people around you treat you as a person.

On a more serious note, since that guy thinks there is an omnipotent, omniscient and all loving creator of our universe that caused the big bang, then guess what? there is a logical conflict in it. that would make this imaginary god responsible for the ULTIMATE CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY (genocide) when the human race eventually goes extinct. Would you support someone that vile? no. nobody likes traitors, cold blooded killers or child abusers. so why THAT?

There are a few possible and certain future scenarios. when either WW3/Nuclear warfare eventually unfolds, if a moon sized asteroid smashed into us, or the sun in a few hundred million years time becomes too hot for our planet to sustain life. what then? and please, if you are christian/catholic/jew/muslim, don't consider anything in this post as blasphemy, you can't really blaspheme something you don't believe in for a start. also don't you see any of the big flaws in creationism? atheists are big thinkers, don't underestimate our kind. I don't think a truly loving father would let his own offspring suffer by allowing them to be capable of evil. you don't see domestic or wild animals developing and misusing weapons of mass destruction and torturing each other, they act only on instinct which is to feed and protect. that's one of the major reasons why I choose not to believe in that bulls**t religion and anything related to the idea behind it. and like it or not, it is a valid reason to be against creationism AND to say "God" is disproven.

Often times from a writing standpoint religion can be a motivate for charters. If someone has nothing or something to believe in their code of ethics can often reflect this. Some charaters know about gods and talk to gods. You have someone like Diablo religion leads him on a path of redemption. There are charters who pray at church some who murder for their church but much like in life comic book charaters can often be directly motivated or driven by their religion or people with lax faith can use them as the basis for a new religion look at the Cult of Conner. Or the religion of crime whose people believe that there is truth in it. It all stems from believe being one of the primary motivators.

Also wow this form really veared off pace. I don't believe in religion but I believe in god.

@aliensoldier105: I only care about one part of that rant of yours. You said that you can say what you want, when in fact you can't. This site has rules, you have to follow them or else you will get in trouble and possibly banned. One of said rules is not to insult users and which you are doing by calling anyone who believes in God stupid, as there are plenty of users that do. Don't talk to a mod like you know better, he's a mod for a reason, he understands the rules, and is there to make sure everyone follows them.

You want to go complain about people's beliefs then fine, but go do it on another site.

You guys bore me with your Religion Vs Atheism argument, lets change the subject to..... Candy Floss Vs Spaniels. I vote candy floss

@Dec@Decoy Elite: He knows the rules alright, but you're missing the point. I'm not trying to land myself a ban at all. nor am I saying religious people are intellectually inferior to everyone else. I'm just stating the problems I see with faith. and what I don't like is false information. here the rules may be different, but in the real world, people have the absolute right to think for themselves and say what they want. there's a very good reason we don't make any thoughts illegal. which was often the case if you lived in Nazi Germany 1939 or back in medieval times. you want to police my opinions and thoughts then go move to Iran.

@aliensoldier105: You can think whatever you want, but you have to follow the rules on this site. Don't compare rules on a site to Nazis, that makes no sense. You want to say whatever you want then just go to a site with no rules. I really don't see how you can't understand that.

You're not even on topic with this thread. This about Religion in comics and how you think they should appear in comics.

You wanting to ban religion in real life has nothing to do with Religion in comics.

lol typical internet atheist. Thinks he knows it all cause he watched a few anti-theistic videos on Youtube. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. It has always boggled my mind how there can be atheists in comics when it is so clear that higher powers do exist (Zeus, Odin, etc.)

@The Man of Yesteryear said:

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. It has always boggled my mind how there can be atheists in comics when it is so clear that higher powers do exist (Zeus, Odin, etc.)

Mr.Terrific gave some very good reasoning. He pointed out that heroes had ran into many so called Gods in their adventures plenty of times and they'd always turned out to be aliens and stuff. Pretty solid stuff.

Personally I'd like to see more Muslim heroes, they get bad treatment within current popular culture and it'd be nice to see some heroic depictions in comics. The only one that comes to mind right now is Dust from X-Men.

how there can be atheists in comics when it is so clear that higher powers do exist (Zeus, Odin, etc.)

@Decoy Elite said:

@The Man of Yesteryear said:

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. It has always boggled my mind how there can be atheists in comics when it is so clear that higher powers do exist (Zeus, Odin, etc.)

Mr.Terrific gave some very good reasoning. He pointed out that heroes had ran into many so called Gods in their adventures plenty of times and they'd always turned out to be aliens and stuff. Pretty solid stuff.

Interesting. I will look into it.

Religion in comics is fine. I read comics like Thor Hercules and I'm Christian. Doesn't affect my belief whatsoever.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. It has always boggled my mind how there can be atheists in comics when it is so clear that higher powers do exist (Zeus, Odin, etc.)

@Static Shock: Well at least this website has moderators unlike failtube. btw I didn't come here to personally attack people like you are trying to insinuate, seeing as you are a mod I wouldn't be surprised if you had a way to access every comment I have ever posted, in that case read other topics I have started up before you judge someone you've never met face to face. I have talked about quite a few things including video games. I am not a troll or a bad person. I dont resort to direct insults unless people attack me first.

Now about that.. yeah some things are better left unsaid. However did I resort to using threatening, harsh and/or discriminatory words like the immature keyboard warriors that say "you're a retard" "you're a n**** go back to Africa" or "stfu and go suck dick you homo" NO! so how can it be true that I have "crossed the line" as one of the previous posters implied? I just came here venting my views on what I think of religion and gave reasons for it. it's not my fault some people here are too sensitive to take constructive criticism. and unlike some people I go by historical facts and scientific evidence. have you suddenly forgotten the difference between ignorance and stupidity?

Don't play that ignorance card on me. we've all been ignorant to something at some point in our lives, it's one of the things that makes us human. what is important is that humanity learns from the past and not repeat wrongdoings. Adolph Hitler was ignorant to strict moral values of the majority but he was a genius who went mad with power. if I were to have a faith in something I would need a good reason for it. I have chosen my path which is atheism, (I don't fear Hell because I know it doesn't exist) and you have made your choice. have a happy new year.

@Static Shock:Yeah religion is fine I guess, as long as people don't go too far with it. nowadays christians don't burn witches at a stake or execute/torture people for not believing. I'm just grateful that the country I live in doesn't have messed up laws based on religion anymore. those people ruined the history of Britain. just remember religious types weren't exactly known to be peacemakers, you only need to know Islamists and their Sharia law to know that. and you can still be maimed for stealing a loaf of bread there as it seems.