[SPOILER ALERT! These posts contain major spoilers for Squid Game. Also, if you’re a Christian, it’s worth thinking through whether or not this is a show you want to watch]
One theme that comes up a bunch of times in Squid Game is religious hypocrisy. It puts Christianity in a pretty bad light, but I reckon it’s actually a great opportunity for a conversation about Jesus. So what does Squid Game say about religious hypocrisy? And how can that lead to a good gospel conversation?
Religious Hypocrisy in Squid Game
Squid Game‘s critique of religious hypocrisy first emerges around one character: Player 244. Player 244 is a Christian pastor who, notably, is never named (see previous post for why that’s significant).
He first comes to our attention in Episode 4-5, during the Tug of War game. He prays before the game, and afterwards, when they win (and the other team is dead), he thanks God for saving them. He is criticised for this by the young female Player 240 (who we later discover is named Ji-yeong), who says he should be thanking the fellow-players who helped their team win instead. Player 244 replies, “God made a decision to help our team. That’s why we’re here [alive].”
Ji-yeong bites back, “Bullsh*t. You killed those guys out there.” And in an unavoidable sense she is right – in a lethal game of tug-of-war, the winners kill the losers. Player 244 is happy to let others die so that he can live, but he dresses it up in religious garb(age).
The significance of this exchange is highlighted later on in Episode 6 during the marble game. Ji-yeong shares about her abusive father, who killed her mother. “He was a goddamn pastor too. And when he hit her and did the things he did to me, he would talk to God. He’d always pray for forgiveness.” Suddenly Ji-yeong’s critique of Player 244 takes on a far deeper significance – she has experienced the evil of religious hypocrisy first-hand. Of so-called ‘pastors’ who use religion as a mask, while abusing others.
The other main place this theme comes up is in Episode 7 on the glass bridge. Player 244 (the ‘Christian pastor’) pushes another player off the bridge, killing him to save himself. He then prays, “Thank you, God! Bless me today!”, before getting his just deserts when another player promptly pushes him off too.
So Squid Game presents a pretty damning critique of religious hypocrisy in general, and Christianity in particular comes off looking awful.
Leading to Good Conversations
I imagine most secular people in the West will resonate with Squid Game‘s portrayal of religious hypocrisy: it’s deeply wrong for someone to use religion as a mask while inwardly being wicked and mistreating others.
How should we respond as Christians?
I think we can agree wholeheartedly! Jesus is well-known for being stinging in his critique of religious hypocrisy. In Matthew 15 Jesus says to the Pharisees, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew 15:7-8). In Matthew 23:3 he coins the now well-known phrase when he says the Pharisees “do not practice what they preach.” And in Luke 20:37 Jesus condemns religious leaders who “devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”
Jesus doesn’t mince words when it comes to condemning religious hypocrites.
So whenever someone criticizes Christianity because of religious hypocrisy (whether the Crusades in history or abusive priests in the present), I’ll respond by helping them see that Jesus actually agrees with them!
The true kind of Christianity that Jesus shows us is not one that uses religion as a mask so that we can abuse others, but rather one where we love others from the heart and are willing to lay down our lives for others. That’s certainly what Jesus modelled when he laid down his life for us on the cross (Mark 10:45), and it’s what he calls us to do for others in response to all he has done for us (Mark 8:34).
And in this regard, Ji-yeong is actually a far better picture of what Christ is like, rather than Player 244, the ‘Christian pastor’. Ji-yeong willingly lays down her life so that another player (Sae-byeok, 067) can live. It’s a deeply moving scene, and it’s just a small snapshot of what Jesus was willing to do to save us.
So next time I’m hanging out with a friend and Squid Game comes up, I might ask, “What do you make of the player who was a Christian pastor and prayed all the time, but was happy to kill others for his own benefit?”
And we’ll see where the conversation goes from there.