Exalted + Christianity

I've seen more than one example now of people playing Zeniths that seem to equate the Unconquered Sun with the Christian God, and Solars as Jesus and/or his disciples. Something like that surfaced recently in a RP I'm in, and I find it difficult to suspend my belief whenever I encounter people playing Zeniths that way.

- First of all, it's totally OOC.
- Second, other gods in Exalted are not 'false'; the setting is bonafide polytheistic.
- Third, the UCS is not the Creator. The Primordials were there before him and the other Incarna.
- Fourth, the UCS is not perfect or infallible. Guess who's spending his immortal days addicted to the Games of Divinity? :P
- Fifth, there are other types of Exalted, Chosen by Luna, the Maidens, the Dragons. Are they now 'false' Exalts, too? Their powers are certainly real in the game setting!

Now, the third and fourth points are things Solars may not even (or ever) know, but ... knowing Exalted cosmology as I do, it just seems an exercise in futility (and embarrassment) to even come up with a character whose motivation is to spread a monotheistic belief in the UCS throughout Creation.

It's even worse knowing the full truth of what Heaven is like canonically, about the Games of Divinity and the fall of the Primordials, and so on. Seriously, Exalted was written by people even more cynical about divinity than *I* could ever be. Well, I shouldn't be TOO cruel in my description -- I'm pretty sure they took cues from Greek and Norse myths, Shinto religion and so on, where gods are plentiful and far from perfect. I'm just saying, the way that the gods and Incarna are canonically just doesn't leave much place for a Christian-like belief system to be feasible in Exalted reality.

All that said... it's not even the attempt to make a monotheistic priest of the Unconquered Sun as a character concept that gets to me. After all, mortals don't often get to know the canonical truth, so one could certainly believe IC that UCS monotheism is reality. I just start getting uncomfortable when the player seems to be channeling their OOC religious beliefs into the character, even trying to 'convert' other characters, and getting aggravated when no one plays along.

I happen to play a shaman in this RPoL game who venerates ocean gods but still believes the Unconquered Sun is supreme over them. But my character's beliefs are totally separate from my own. I'm not polythestic, I don't make animal sacrifices to appease angry sea gods, and so on. I'm just playing a character that believes and does those things. I take no personal insult if my character's faith is challenged, or not accepted by the rest of the group.

I'm not saying I never make characters that are strongly inspired by my beliefs or personality. But there has to be a line drawn, I think, between roleplaying a character and using RP as a medium to act out or express things that are very personal and real for you. The former can be done safely with most players; the latter is best done with people you trust will be supportive of your feelings and beliefs when faced with them in game.

Example #1: the player I mentioned who seems to be strongly incorporating Christian faith into his character. His concept might have been more favorably received by players he knows are 1) also Christian, and/or 2) open to having Christian elements exposed in a setting where they are canonically out of place. I, unfortunately, am neither of those things and thus felt discomfort interacting with the character.

Example #2: Ryshassa, a character I've repeatedly mentioned is deeply personal to me. I made the mistake of playing her in a game where I didn't feel a strong enough rapport or trust in the ST/players, and that made the overall experience negative for me. (There were exceptions, of course, but those aren't in the scope of the example.) I revealed very personal things about me through her, and people were either unaware or unprepared for those, and the repercussions involved in toying with them.

The moral here? Make sure your character is appropriate to the level of correlation players are willing to make between reality and fantasy. ESPECIALLY when your character is being used to exemplify something as personal as religious beliefs, or (in my case) personally sensitive topics such as abuse, self-harm and depression.

I'm now pondering whether I should even mention my observations to the ST and/or players of the game I'm in. I'm wondering whether I'm the only one who finds it problematic to see Christian dogma mixed in with Unconquered Sun worship in an Exalted RP. Or whether I'm mistaken in thinking the player is actually channeling RL religious beliefs through the character, to the point the separation between player and character is getting tenuous.

But am I being prejudiced against Christianity, here? After all, Exalted does draw inspiration from many different myths and religions. Why not have a Zenith who thinks the UCS is God and himself God's prophet? Maybe it's just the fact I've seen it done before that makes me wary (another was a player who used the fact he was incorporating Christian beliefs IC as a justification for roleplaying, which he otherwise believed was sinful.) Maybe it's because I'm TOO familiar with Exalted canon, enough that adding Christian elements feels too blatantly OOC.

Or am I really just not happy with the "one true belief" attitude that justifies a character (or even a RL person) like that Zenith to do what he believes is right, by whatever means he thinks is right? Because it is the total opposite of religious tolerance -- and not just that, but expresses great arrogance in thinking his way is the only way people can be "saved"?

Honestly, I don't even want RL religious debates to make a huge splash into my RP. Matters of faith can lead to such incendiary conflicts, and it's just plain unpleasant when an IC conflict turns OOC for that reason. :/ So I just hope this whole thing dies down and I can go on with RPing Exalted, not thinking about whether I'll have to debate Christian values in a game setting where Christianity doesn't even exist.