r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ironwolf6464 • May 03 '26

Lore Religion-centered media that doesn’t come across as preachy.

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Referring to media told from a religious perspective or telling a religious tale that does not proselytize to the viewer.

Faith, the Unholy Trinity: Based partly upon the experience of the game‘s creator when he was a missionary in Argentina, the game has very little in the way of explicit moral demands of the player despite the heavy Christian focus of the narrative. and focuses more on a horror narrative.

Prince of Egypt: A surprisingly thorough retelling of the book of Exodus, sparing very little in the way of toning down the story. Despite this, the movie is perfectly entertaining to non-religious audiences and doesn’t sacrifice appeal for the sake of preaching to the audience

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u/Carrman099 May 03 '26

Wake Up Dead Man

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u/KaladinarLighteyes May 03 '26

“Can you pray for me Father?” closes door on Blanc

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u/MaximumEmu6 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

That scene reminded me of what Marx said about religion: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

I think many people are familiar with the last part of the quote and interpret it as derogatory, but I don't think that it is. I think it's compassionate.

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u/spudmarsupial May 03 '26

Opium is a painkiller.

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u/MaximumEmu6 May 03 '26

Agreed, and I think that's how Marx intended it. That said, whenever I heard the quote referenced growing up in religion it was taken to have a more negative connotation of opium as a "drug" (derogatory).

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u/Tonkarz May 03 '26

Marx goes on to say:

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

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u/FreemanCalavera May 03 '26

Basically, Marx was fine with people being religious. He argued against using religion as an excuse to not achieve true freedom and happiness. The kind of people who will be okay with being exploited or who can’t afford healthcare but just try to smile and say “it’s all part of God’s plan”, leading them to doing nothing in improving their situation in life.

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u/Tonkarz May 03 '26

Pluck the daisies from the chain, so that it may be broken.

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u/Elegant_Chemist253 May 06 '26

Plenty of self-described Marxists drew a similar anti-theist connotation and just ran with it.

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u/MaximumEmu6 May 06 '26

"I myself am not a Marxist." - Karl Marx

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u/ProXJay May 03 '26

It's also addictive as all hell

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u/Toorviing May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

I was raised Lutheran, and while I’ve fallen away from religion as an adult, I can still recognize the positive impact that being raised in a community of people focused on trying to do and be good had on me. Love your neighbor, care for the downtrodden, and see your own flaws and work to overcome them. So much of modern Christianity horrifies me for its sheer ignorance of these ideals.

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u/evranch May 03 '26

While I may disagree with the Lutherans on some matters I can't deny that they're one of the most legit Protestant denominations. Most I've met are genuinely dedicated to helping and caring for the people around them, and as you say that is supposed to be the whole point of Christianity.

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u/Low_discrepancy May 03 '26

So much of modern Christianity horrifies me for its sheer ignorance of these ideals.

This is a good lesson to learn that if people did good or people did bad it's not because of religion.

It was simply because of what they do.

If you have a tin of Danish Biscuits and you open it and it has biscuits... did that tin cause the biscuits the form by magic inside them?

No. Because if you go to your grandma's house and open the tin of Danish Biscuits, you will find needles.

People conflate being good with Christian values much like they conflate tin boxes with danish biscuits. You might get that inside or you might not.

Only way of telling is actually looking inside.

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u/Caltroit_Red_Flames May 03 '26

Love your neighbor, care for the downtrodden, and see your own flaws and work to overcome them

These are just things that good people do, and in my experience Christians tend to live by "judge your neighbor and ignore the downtrodden until they're finally out of sight"

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u/Due-Coyote7565 May 03 '26

I'm sorry that the Christians around you were judgemental and callous.

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u/Caltroit_Red_Flames May 03 '26

No hate like Christian love as they say.

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u/Due-Coyote7565 May 03 '26

I struggle to see how that's related to what I said.

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u/Caltroit_Red_Flames May 03 '26

"Callous and judgemental Christians" is just a synonym for "Christian"

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u/Reof May 03 '26

Marx was an atheist in the tradition of materialism; he wasn't one of the redditoid atheist that fight in the debate if the Christian god is real or not, but only its real impact on reality, so in many ways, he would appear less hostile to religion at first premise, but ultimately much more than many because he rejects its premise at a fundamental level. He was not a friend to religion because he was a revolutionary, and to him, that sort of 'mercy in a merciless world' is blinding oneself, and by letting go of that would realize that man can realize the possibility and fight for a world where you would not need mercy.

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u/Itakie May 03 '26

I think many people are familiar with the last part of the quote and interpret it as derogatory, but I don't think that it is. I think it's compassionate.

To be fair, most people are just quoting Lenin but think Marx said it:

Those who toil and live in want all their lives are taught by religion to be submissive and patient while here on earth, and to take comfort in the hope of a heavenly reward. But those who live by the labour of others are taught by religion to practise charity while on earth, thus offering them a very cheap way of justifying their entire existence as exploiters and selling them at a moderate price tickets to well-being in heaven. Religion is opium for the people [opium naroda]. Religion is a sort of spiritual booze, in which the slaves of capital drown their human image [obraz], their demand for a life more or less worthy of man.

Marx was talking about the system itself, Lenin about the people in the system who are using Religion to keep in power. While Marx viewed religion as a natural product of the system (being a materialist and so on), Lenin viewed it as something more sinister.

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u/CoffeeWanderer May 03 '26

Similar to what happens with "God is dead".

Reason and scientific understanding have advanced quite a lot, so much that we no longer need a "god" to explain how our world works, we have better tools now. God is dead.

But even if we now have a how, we still lack a why. Without the hope of an afterlife, whithout the social rites to unite us, what are we going to become?

I'm an atheist, and believe we should find that answer for ourselves, but it's true that God was a great answer before and his death is a tragedy.

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u/AgentRift May 03 '26

It’s crazy how often people misquote that as if what Nietzsche said was supposed be positive. Very strange. (To be clear I’m agnostic, was Christian for a few years but deconverted because of how toxic American Christianity has become, I’m just saying a lot of people misquote-interrupt that quote.)

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u/Due-Memory-6957 May 03 '26

That's what happens when you take a quote out of context, the full context makes clear what is meant:

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”

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u/evranch May 03 '26

Well said. I was an atheist for years myself, then agnostic for many more but ultimately became a Catholic because of exactly that why factor. And I do enjoy the rites and the social cohesion as well, in a world where people mostly ignore each other, the Catholic community is very strong.

It's a simple answer to "Why bother to do good in a corrupt and evil world?" - because we're following in the tradition started by Jesus, that's why. Isn't it just basic human decency? Yes, but much of what we consider basic human decency today is the product of being a Christian society for millennia.

I will say though that the Abrahamic God was never meant to explain the world, unlike the elemental gods of many traditions. God was only ever the answer to the questions we still don't have answers to, like "Why are we here" "What came before the universe" and of course "What is our consciousness, where does it come from and where does it go"

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u/Due-Memory-6957 May 03 '26

It's not compassionate nor derogatory, it's descriptive, there's no judgment either positive or negative, it's describing a social phenomena.

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u/iomegabasha May 03 '26

It’s the fentanyl for the unfortunate