What the Movie "Silence" Teaches Us About Being Christian

Shusaku Endo's 1966 novel ‘Silence' was destined to ignite controversy. Though Endo was a Japanese Catholic, he was troubled by the difficulties of Christianity in Japan and not without good reason. Nearly 400 years after the persecution of Christians by Japanese authorities detailed in ‘Silence,' only somewhere around 2 percent of Japan's population identifies as Christian. “Silence” takes the clash between European-disseminated Christianity and traditional Japanese culture seriously, and, accordingly, several reactions to Martin Scorsese's 2016 film adaptation have taken issue with its apparent “white savior” complex.