Religion and Yaoi
Two days ago, I stumbled over a comment about a dj post in one of my most beloved doujinshi sites. The dj was from Saint Oniisan fandom (!!); naturally it was pairing Jesus x Buddha. The user commented that, "It is not nice when people mix real life and fantasy." and explained that it is so "especially when it is offensive to someone else's religion".
We are living in the world of diversities. There are too many different ways of living and various tastes. Whether we are religious or not is one of our preferences. To the religious, god is absolute; to the nonreligious, god could be imaginary (fantasy). There sure are a lot of religious people in this world believing in different gods or believing in the same god in different ways. But there are equal amount of people on earth who do not agree with them. Just as the religious cannot force their ideals to the nonbelievers, the nonreligious cannot force the others to deny what they want to believe. Just as real god is to the religious, it is a matter of question to the nonreligious party.
So, since when did this god-- a certain god (s) to boot among so many choices we have-- become REAL? Or did I misinterpret the comment? Did he/she mean fiction (dj) as real life, and religious characters as fantasy?? Complaining about someone else's work that way sounded pretty forceful to me. The commenter should realize that god is as fantasy to some as real it is to him/her. Yes, it is not nice when people mix REAL life and FANTASY.
The original poster (the hard worker who had the heart to share the dj) was trying to clear things out by replying to the commenter with an apology for the possible unintentional offense. It is true that homosexuality is not well received by most religions with exceptions of some reformed ones. But if the (god) believer is a strong follower of the religious teachings and truly against homosexuality, he/she had better stay away from any yaoi related communities. Or, better exercise more leniency in accepting creativity and freedom of artists. If he/she can enjoy other yaoi work, why not look over the ones featuring religious characters as well? I am sure nobody really meant to offend in creation of such work. ;)
I do not deny religion or god. But I understand that it affects the society in good ways as much as it influences negatively. Some people abuse religion to make personal gain while the other work hard to share the love of god. What I support is the ideal of making a better world where one can understand and accept the other as the way they are no matter how different they might be, living together in harmony.
We are living in the world of diversities. There are too many different ways of living and various tastes. Whether we are religious or not is one of our preferences. To the religious, god is absolute; to the nonreligious, god could be imaginary (fantasy). There sure are a lot of religious people in this world believing in different gods or believing in the same god in different ways. But there are equal amount of people on earth who do not agree with them. Just as the religious cannot force their ideals to the nonbelievers, the nonreligious cannot force the others to deny what they want to believe. Just as real god is to the religious, it is a matter of question to the nonreligious party.
So, since when did this god-- a certain god (s) to boot among so many choices we have-- become REAL? Or did I misinterpret the comment? Did he/she mean fiction (dj) as real life, and religious characters as fantasy?? Complaining about someone else's work that way sounded pretty forceful to me. The commenter should realize that god is as fantasy to some as real it is to him/her. Yes, it is not nice when people mix REAL life and FANTASY.
The original poster (the hard worker who had the heart to share the dj) was trying to clear things out by replying to the commenter with an apology for the possible unintentional offense. It is true that homosexuality is not well received by most religions with exceptions of some reformed ones. But if the (god) believer is a strong follower of the religious teachings and truly against homosexuality, he/she had better stay away from any yaoi related communities. Or, better exercise more leniency in accepting creativity and freedom of artists. If he/she can enjoy other yaoi work, why not look over the ones featuring religious characters as well? I am sure nobody really meant to offend in creation of such work. ;)
I do not deny religion or god. But I understand that it affects the society in good ways as much as it influences negatively. Some people abuse religion to make personal gain while the other work hard to share the love of god. What I support is the ideal of making a better world where one can understand and accept the other as the way they are no matter how different they might be, living together in harmony.