Need advice on how to handle religion in comic books

[The_Otaku]

Hi, again.

I’ve created a new story for a comic in which there will be instances, from time to time, where religion will play a part. I’ve always figured that such a thing is wonderful and God can use that to inspire me and others who see it. However, in this particular story, the characters are not human. They are anthromorphic animals. You may have heard the term anthro or furry for short.

If you don’t know what an anthro is, here is a wiki article on it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism

Anyways, this creates a problem. The reason this is an issue is because when making references to my catholic faith, through the story, or using catholic imagery I am worried about whether or not it is sacrilegious and blasphemous to portray religious figures, such as priests and nuns as animals, especially if and when they are performing the duties of their office, such as saying mass, giving a homily, hearing confessions, anointing the sick, giving blessings, etc.

Think of the Disney movie Robin Hood. The Fryer Tuck character (who is a badger) is playing the role of a human priest or monk. References to God are made, the character gives blessings, prays, etc, wears robes and has a mission church, etc. Was this acceptable in the catholic christian view for Disney to do that?

If I have scenes with characters having dinner and saying grace, even something simple, pure, and innocent like that is potentially torn asunder by the fact they’re animals and I wonder whether it’s scandalous because they’re animals and not human.

If I’m going to make this comic, should I just omit religion, and religious themes entirely? I’d love to be able to put religious elements into the comic without it being blasphemous, but I’m not sure how that could work no matter how hard I try.

 

[jmcrae]

How about just inventing a religion for them, that happens to have a great many things in common with the Catholic faith, like how it’s done on Andromeda?

 

[edwest2]

I would consult a priest.

Peace,
Ed

 

[The_Otaku]

How about just inventing a religion for them, that happens to have a great many things in common with the Catholic faith, like how it’s done on Andromeda?

I’ve tried to do that before some time ago with another manga/comic idea which I posted a thread for here: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=258709&highlight=la+pucelle

which fell through and I decided against. In that particular story, my comic was based on a video game, so it was a fan work more than original, which basically continued the story where the video game left off. The reason I had to drop the project was because while the video game made reference, mostly symbolic to the catholic church and the heros were portrayed as sisters, priests, and cleric types, they were also not acting entirely catholic nor were they said to be catholic even though some of the imagery in the game would suggest a similarity to catholicism. The sister characters had revealing clothing, and the priest had a wife, etc. It was an overall wholesome game and would have made a great comic adaptation, but I couldn’t reconcile it to my catholic faith and have it emulate it in good conscience.

The same is true for your suggestion. While I would have more control over the religion, however fictional, putting any similarity into catholicism is something I worry about because inevitably there would be some instance that would put me between a rock and a hard spot where I would have to explain, in the canon of the story, how it is that works without it being blasphemous to the readers and to my own beliefs. La Pucelle didn’t work for this reason. The characters were wonderful, but I couldn’t justify changing them so much that they weren’t the characters from the game anymore and everything would be radically changed just to accomidate the more appropriate catholic themes.

The fictional religion you suggest is a great idea, but it fails due to similar circumstances. Unless, of course, you can give me examples of how I could have religious figures doing religious things that seem catholic but aren’t and it isn’t blasphemous for it.

Up until now I’ve been darned if I do and darned if I don’t. There’s no way to win this it seems and every time I try to revisit the idea of making a comic with religious themes, it seems to fall through, mostly under my own scruples and desire to not do anything blasphemous. I love my catholic faith too much to risk making a mockery of it somehow, some way, in some fashion.

 

[jmcrae]

I’ve tried to do that before some time ago with another manga/comic idea which I posted a thread for here: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=258709&highlight=la+pucelle

which fell through and I decided against. In that particular story, my comic was based on a video game, so it was a fan work more than original, which basically continued the story where the video game left off. The reason I had to drop the project was because while the video game made reference, mostly symbolic to the catholic church and the heros were portrayed as sisters, priests, and cleric types, they were also not acting entirely catholic nor were they said to be catholic even though some of the imagery in the game would suggest a similarity to catholicism. The sister characters had revealing clothing,

Was there some reason for this?

The same is true for your suggestion. While I would have more control over the religion, however fictional, putting any similarity into catholicism is something I worry about because inevitably there would be some instance that would put me between a rock and a hard spot where I would have to explain, in the canon of the story, how it is that works without it being blasphemous to the readers and to my own beliefs. La Pucelle didn’t work for this reason. The characters were wonderful, but I couldn’t justify changing them so much that they weren’t the characters from the game anymore and everything would be radically changed just to accomidate the more appropriate catholic themes.

The fictional religion you suggest is a great idea, but it fails due to similar circumstances. Unless, of course, you can give me examples of how I could have religious figures doing religious things that seem catholic but aren’t and it isn’t blasphemous for it.

In Andromeda, the monk character hears Confessions and gives absolution in the name of “The Way” - he also names off the seven virtues and the seven vices in his little commentaries, when he is giving advice to Dylan on how to proceed with whatever he happens to be doing. (He acts as a kind of spiritual director for Dylan.) The source of his belief system is left obscure; he occasionally makes reference to “The Founder” but no details are ever given; just pithy sayings that sound like things Jesus might say, but then again, it could be Confucious, as well. He has a vow of celibacy that he follows, and he also discusses the merits of fasting and prayer, although it’s never really clear to whom or to what he is praying. He also conducts funerals whenever any of the characters die, and he’s the one who warns them about losing their souls to the Abyss.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

I don’t see anything wrong. The way I see it, you’re just replacing humans with anthromorphic beings. In the long run, that’s hardly any different from any story that uses normal humans (except maybe the differences between each species are more noticeable ). If you’re going to make religious anthromorphic characters then by all means do so. Just make sure it’s in line with the real thing. Consult stuff like the Catechism and ask priests and experts if you’re unsure how to portray something.

 

[The_Otaku]

Was there some reason for this?

I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean. Do you mean why I shared that information with you? If that’s what you meant, then I showed it to you so that if you were interested in reading the thread you’d see what I was trying to do before, and how it failed, and how I’m in a similar situation now with this story.

If you meant something else, like maybe you felt it was irrelevant for me to share that with you, then I apologize, I guess, if it offended you or wasted your time.

In Andromeda, the monk character hears Confessions and gives absolution in the name of “The Way” - he also names off the seven virtues and the seven vices in his little commentaries, when he is giving advice to Dylan on how to proceed with whatever he happens to be doing. (He acts as a kind of spiritual director for Dylan.) The source of his belief system is left obscure; he occasionally makes reference to “The Founder” but no details are ever given; just pithy sayings that sound like things Jesus might say, but then again, it could be Confucious, as well. He has a vow of celibacy that he follows, and he also discusses the merits of fasting and prayer, although it’s never really clear to whom or to what he is praying. He also conducts funerals whenever any of the characters die, and he’s the one who warns them about losing their souls to the Abyss.

Sounds great, but this is exactly the type of thing La Pucelle was doing. It was ambiguous enough in the actual belief system that it wouldn’t insult or blaspheme the Church, but it was specific enough in it’s imagery that correlations and similarities could be drawn between this fictional religion and catholicism.

My whole problem has always been not knowing whether even doing that much is a sin, and if so, a mortal one. There’s nothing wrong with telling a fantasy story, and you’re bound to run into things you will have to create or deal with that are pagan in influence, but you can always limit what you do and what you draw. By saying that to myself, you’d think I’ve answered my question, but I haven’t at all because the more I reason it, the more I have to think about, and the more I have to think about the more I have to justify.

EDIT:

Oh, and I’ve never watched that show or know the character you speak of, so I apologize if I’m not able to fully utilize your example.

 

[The_Otaku]

I don’t see anything wrong. The way I see it, you’re just replacing humans with anthromorphic beings. In the long run, that’s hardly any different from any story that uses normal humans (except maybe the differences between each species are more noticeable ). If you’re going to make religious anthromorphic characters then by all means do so. Just make sure it’s in line with the real thing. Consult stuff like the Catechism and ask priests and experts if you’re unsure how to portray something.

I’ve already had these thoughts and processes in my mind and I’m thinking way ahead.

You have to think through what you’re talking about and where it leads to eventually. Look at it. At first, yes, it sounds like problem solved. But then you realize hey, if everyone is a furry, and there are no humans that means Jesus, Mary, and God are furries too, since we’re made in His image, and in wanting to be faithful to Catholicism, it’s a double-edged sword, because you’d be having things like statues and icons of holy figures as anthros.

So, you’re stuck. You either have to be very, very, extremely vague about God to the point the religious aspects are pointless to even have, or you have to be presumptuous that it is ok to portray the religion as is, but with animals. Nobody should need it explained to them why a fox or dog version of Christ Crucified on a crucifix is uncomfortable to say the least.

You have to be able to say right away where you draw the line without it conflicting with, or contradicting or retconing things. I still don’t know, and while one person above and others in the previous thread suggested I consult a priest, I ask myself what good is that, because he’ll only be able to tell me his opinion of whether it’s ok, not whether Mother Church would be ok with this. Realistically, I don’t have the time to take this to the Pope who is the only one short of Christ Himself who could give me the final answer. =p

Yeah, I’m scrupulous, I know.

 

[kage_ar]

Oh, and I’ve never watched that show or know the character you speak of, so I apologize if I’m not able to fully utilize your example.

Many eons ago, people had things called books. They read them, and from these they had great ideas and used those ideas to create art

Take some time and read the classics.

Read Andromeda

Read Lewis

Reat Tolkien

Read those who have created alternate fantasy worlds and have stayed true to the Faith.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

I’ve already had these thoughts and processes in my mind and I’m thinking way ahead.

You have to think through what you’re talking about and where it leads to eventually. Look at it. At first, yes, it sounds like problem solved. But then you realize hey, if everyone is a furry, and there are no humans that means Jesus, Mary, and God are furries too, since we’re made in His image, and in wanting to be faithful to Catholicism, it’s a double-edged sword, because you’d be having things like statues and icons of holy figures as anthros.

I can see where you think that might sound sacrilegious but in all honesty that doesn’t sound like something to worry about all. As far as it goes, you’re just changing the outer appearance (albeit to a somewhat higher degree). It’s the character content that you should stay true to.

Nobody should need it explained to them why a fox or dog version of Christ Crucified on a crucifix is uncomfortable to say the least.

Unless it’s some uber uptight traditionalist or something, I highly doubt people would be asking.

You have to be able to say right away where you draw the line without it conflicting with, or contradicting or retconing things. I still don’t know, and while one person above and others in the previous thread suggested I consult a priest, I ask myself what good is that, because he’ll only be able to tell me his opinion of whether it’s ok, not whether Mother Church would be ok with this. Realistically, I don’t have the time to take this to the Pope who is the only one short of Christ Himself who could give me the final answer. =p

Yeah, I’m scrupulous, I know.

Dude, chiiiill… Trust me, you’re making a huge deal out of nothing. I mean it was one thing when you once asked about stuff like fan service and outfits but just turning people into furries like they did in old Disney movies is hardly anything to get worked up about.

 

[BobCatholic]

I remember Jesus saying to preach the gospel to all creatures?

Mark 16:15
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Didn’t St. Francis of Assissi preach the gospel to animals?

Would it be BAD that some animals listened and practiced the faith? Why not write a story about animals that did?

I don’t see a problem with it.

 

[Reynardus]

I’ve heard of some Christian furry artists portraying Christ as an anthromorphic lion since C.S. Lewis did the same thing with Narnia.

If you haven’t already, you should read Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis was very free thinking in his otherworldy Christian theology. Apparently, humans but also talking animals, fairies, dryads, dwarfs and whatnot could be saved. And Aslan was obviously suggested as the incarnation of Christ in another world and he was a lion. Very rarely have I heard charges of blasphemy against Lewis.

I also recommend the Redwall series since it has anthro characters set in a near approximation (but not quite CC) of a Catholic monastery. I recommend Redwall and Mattimeo.

Now I’ll tell you a secret.

You do not need to portray an anthropomorphic Christ or Mary and that’s because you’re a Catholic.

You already have an authentic means of portraying the Center of our Faith without doing the above.

It’s called the Eucharist.

The beauty of this is that you don’t have to break the logic of your story while showing your characters praying. They can pray to the exposed Host which you can portray exactly as we see Him instead of drawing some furry Saint statue. Thus your character can be as anthropomorphic as they want and you’ll be propagating devotion to Our Eucharistic Lord at the same time.

I personally have a similar comic idea…that is if I could draw. But I’m more of a writer than an artist.

 

[jmcrae]

I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean. Do you mean why I shared that information with you? If that’s what you meant, then I showed it to you so that if you were interested in reading the thread you’d see what I was trying to do before, and how it failed, and how I’m in a similar situation now with this story.

If you meant something else, like maybe you felt it was irrelevant for me to share that with you, then I apologize, I guess, if it offended you or wasted your time.

No, no - I meant, what was the reason that the “nuns” had to be scantily clad, in the comic? Was there some kind of plot development involved with that, or what was the reason? Because it seems to me that you can dress comic characters respectfully, as well - there is no law that says comic characters have to run around half-naked.

Sounds great, but this is exactly the type of thing La Pucelle was doing. It was ambiguous enough in the actual belief system that it wouldn’t insult or blaspheme the Church, but it was specific enough in it’s imagery that correlations and similarities could be drawn between this fictional religion and catholicism.

Sorry, I don’t know who La Pucelle is. Was he punished in some way for what he was doing?

Oh, and I’ve never watched that show or know the character you speak of, so I apologize if I’m not able to fully utilize your example.

Andromeda was one of the later Roddenberry works. It’s the story of Dylan Hunt, captain of the space ship Andromeda Ascendant, which gets caught in a black hole and flung three hundred years into a barbaric future where the last vestiges of the Republic are already being overwhelmed by barbarism - as the last of the High Guard, Dylan feels that he has been placed in the future by a higher power for the purpose of restoring civilization and decency to the Universe. Although barbarism is the norm, his authority as a High Guard is recognized, so he finds himself able to negotiate treaties among various different planets, and since his is the highest technology in the Universe, he also finds that he has sufficient fire-power to enforce the laws that are enacted by means of these treaties. So he moves from planet to planet, gradually expanding a New Republic, and gathering followers from among the criminal classes, who renounce their criminal ways (though not always entirely) to embrace the new ideals that he is spreading. The monk character (whose name I don’t remember) also attaches himself to the group, although I don’t remember what the reason was. The Andromeda itself is also a “thinking machine” that talks back to Dylan, and sometimes rebels against him. It has an avatar, which is of a scantily clad young woman, and the reason for that turns out to be that the designer of the avatar is a seventeen year old boy genius named Seamus Harper (although clearly, the real reason is to attract male viewers).

I think actually Majel Roddenberry was the brains behind it. Production stopped on it in 2005 because of a loss of ratings, and she died of leukemia three years later. I’m not sure whether Majel Roddenberry was a Catholic or not, but it seemed to me that her characters often spoke with Catholic-sounding voices.

 

[The_Otaku]

Many eons ago, people had things called books. They read them, and from these they had great ideas and used those ideas to create art

Take some time and read the classics.

Read Andromeda

Read Lewis

Reat Tolkien

Read those who have created alternate fantasy worlds and have stayed true to the Faith.

I’ve heard of two of these authors and know what their books are about. I can see where you’re getting at with suggesting these, but I should have been more clear that this comic is set in a modern day theme. It is not a fantasy story. If I do have religious characters and scenes where they go to mass and confession, for example, it would be how the Church actually is. I would not be using symbolism at all like how it is in fantasy, where anything can be explained by “magic”, as I would not have that luxury. Fantasy themed stories make this alot easier, because alot of it mystical and left up to interpretation, but this isn’t. There would actually be Sunday Mass, etc. I don’t know that I’d have this often, but just showing it once or twice to establish the religion of any particular character is significant, yet something I have to be careful with.

 

[The_Otaku]

Dude, chiiiill… Trust me, you’re making a huge deal out of nothing. I mean it was one thing when you once asked about stuff like fan service and outfits but just turning people into furries like they did in old Disney movies is hardly anything to get worked up about.

If I might be perfectly honest with you, I feel you’re being somewhat bias or partial towards me given that we’re both into anime, have similar talents, etc. This isn’t to say I don’t appreciate you (name removed by moderator)ut, I most certainly do, but I do feel as though I need to be especially careful when you give me advice, because I know where you’re coming from with it and that there is a personal bias there. You’re probably the only other person on this website that understands the business and is able to talk about it at length, like me. These other good folks don’t know what a tsundere is. LOL You and I and maybe a select few actually know the anime lingo, and even I only learned what a tsundere is the other day, completely by accident. Obviously, it’s easier to follow what you’re saying because I know where you’re coming from.

My point is, you’re going to tell me what I want to hear more often than not, I feel, and because we both “speak the same language” and share a mutual respect I’m concerned that if you’re wrong, and I take your advice (I’m not saying you are wrong, just that IF you are) then it will be on BOTH of us. You for leading me into error, and me for acting it out. If someone is going to be wrong, I prefer it to just be me.

 

[The_Otaku]

I remember Jesus saying to preach the gospel to all creatures?

Mark 16:15
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Didn’t St. Francis of Assissi preach the gospel to animals?

Would it be BAD that some animals listened and practiced the faith? Why not write a story about animals that did?

I don’t see a problem with it.

First off, thank you for the Scripture passages. It is helpful.

Secondly, I should point out at this point that my furry characters are not like the little rabbit in the wiki article, you know that Peter Rabbit style where they’re normal animals that stand upright. They’re actually very human. The only thing that doesn’t make them human is the fact they have the ears, nose, and tail of whatever animal they are based on. In all other regards, they’re fully human in biology and appearance. The reason I point this out (where it otherwise may seem irrelevant) is because they are not merely animals acting like humans or animals with animal minds mimicking humans. They ARE humans, full-size humans with the exceptions noted and live as human society does.

My concern is that the realism of their humanity, especially in that there are no humans and furries have taken the place human beings would otherwise have, means I have to think carefully about how the same things humans have and do are ok to do with the furries, which is the key point of this thread. Namely, in the religious things.

If there are no humans, and everyone is a furry, it means by extension and is implied that Jesus and God are furries, whether I expound on that or not, it’s simply taken that if I’m being literal and these are humans with animal traits living as we do in reality, that’s how it is. If everything is human but with animal features in order to make this work, then it requires everything of God have animal elements as well, including Him, otherwise it creates a huge plot contradiction where mysteriously God and co. are normal humans, yet everything else is not. How are the two linked if they’re not His children?

UNLESS…maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s fine to just keep God the same, but I can’t do that with the saints, because they lived earthly lives and to make them fully human also would create a contradiction. They would have to be furry like everyone else. Now that I look at it this way, it allows me to do both without a problem. But then it begs the question why are these people not made in His image? I have to find a way of explaining that away realistically. If humans don’t exist, it means God created furries and not humans, so what is God’s relation to them? This goes back to why I had to explain the style difference. If they were Peter Rabbit style furries, it would be fine, because just be style alone people would accept that they’re no more human than they are able to mimmick, and that God sees them as creatures or pets, not humans and children. But these ARE human-level people, so how do I show that and link this together in a way that works?

The only last ditch resort it seems I have is to say that this is a different reality or a different earth, and that elsewhere there are normal humans on another planet (us basically). This allows me to keep God the same, and these furry people are just another of His creations, in addition to the humans, and that they too have redemptive quality and have been given the same set of laws and beliefs as the full-humans do so as to make sure all the planets or dimensions, etc, are worshipping the same God, who doesn’t have to appear furry because He is Universally interpreted the same way among all of them, which is how we Catholics see Him.

This makes everything work perfectly in a neat little package. The only thing I don’t like about it, is it gives the feeling that the furries are aliens from another planet or galaxy or whatever. That’s not the feel I wanted because then that makes it feel sort of sci-fi and this story is really down to earth and normal. Ah well, I guess I can’t have everything. XD

 

[The_Otaku]

No, no - I meant, what was the reason that the “nuns” had to be scantily clad, in the comic? Was there some kind of plot development involved with that, or what was the reason? Because it seems to me that you can dress comic characters respectfully, as well - there is no law that says comic characters have to run around half-naked.

Sorry, I don’t know who La Pucelle is. Was he punished in some way for what he was doing?

The nuns didn’t have to be scantily clad in the comic. If you read the thread you would see that at one point I was willing to create new outfits for them which were more modest. But this all seemed in vain, because while it will have made them more modest in appearance, it wouldn’t have changed them as people. And to change them as people (not that there was anything wrong with them), when I feel I have no right to, because they are not my creations and this was to be a fanwork in tribute to the game, that I’d be taking everything that made the game unique and changing into into something which is unrecognizable. If the characters can’t exist as they are in the original, I have no business changing them. I realized this too little too late, so I just dropped the project, thankfully before I had created any more than 5 pages into it.

It then made me think- why even bother with this. I should just make my own original story that way I can make everything how I want without having to worry about being true to the character, since they’re mine. This story is different however, since it involves furries. La Pucelle had humans. So this one created this problem in this thread today because of that reason, whereas La Pucelle had problems because of the reasons in that thread.

La Pucelle isn’t a person. It’s the name of the video game. It is also the name of the demon hunting squad in the game. So when I said “La Pucelle tried to…” I was actually referring to the creators of the game and the direction they had taken versus what I would have had to change in my fan work to make it acceptable to my catholic leanings.

Andromeda was one of the later Roddenberry works. It’s the story of Dylan Hunt, captain of the space ship Andromeda Ascendant, which gets caught in a black hole and flung three hundred years into a barbaric future where the last vestiges of the Republic are already being overwhelmed by barbarism - as the last of the High Guard, Dylan feels that he has been placed in the future by a higher power for the purpose of restoring civilization and decency to the Universe. Although barbarism is the norm, his authority as a High Guard is recognized, so he finds himself able to negotiate treaties among various different planets, and since his is the highest technology in the Universe, he also finds that he has sufficient fire-power to enforce the laws that are enacted by means of these treaties. So he moves from planet to planet, gradually expanding a New Republic, and gathering followers from among the criminal classes, who renounce their criminal ways (though not always entirely) to embrace the new ideals that he is spreading. The monk character (whose name I don’t remember) also attaches himself to the group, although I don’t remember what the reason was. The Andromeda itself is also a “thinking machine” that talks back to Dylan, and sometimes rebels against him. It has an avatar, which is of a scantily clad young woman, and the reason for that turns out to be that the designer of the avatar is a seventeen year old boy genius named Seamus Harper (although clearly, the real reason is to attract male viewers).

I think actually Majel Roddenberry was the brains behind it. Production stopped on it in 2005 because of a loss of ratings, and she died of leukemia three years later. I’m not sure whether Majel Roddenberry was a Catholic or not, but it seemed to me that her characters often spoke with Catholic-sounding voices.

Sounds interesting.

I used to watch Stargate SG-1.

Is that show anything like Andromeda?

 

[The_Otaku]

I’ve heard of some Christian furry artists portraying Christ as an anthromorphic lion since C.S. Lewis did the same thing with Narnia.

If you haven’t already, you should read Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis was very free thinking in his otherworldy Christian theology. Apparently, humans but also talking animals, fairies, dryads, dwarfs and whatnot could be saved. And Aslan was obviously suggested as the incarnation of Christ in another world and he was a lion. Very rarely have I heard charges of blasphemy against Lewis.

I also recommend the Redwall series since it has anthro characters set in a near approximation (but not quite CC) of a Catholic monastery. I recommend Redwall and Mattimeo.

Now I’ll tell you a secret.

You do not need to portray an anthropomorphic Christ or Mary and that’s because you’re a Catholic.

You already have an authentic means of portraying the Center of our Faith without doing the above.

It’s called the Eucharist.

The beauty of this is that you don’t have to break the logic of your story while showing your characters praying. They can pray to the exposed Host which you can portray exactly as we see Him instead of drawing some furry Saint statue. Thus your character can be as anthropomorphic as they want and you’ll be propagating devotion to Our Eucharistic Lord at the same time.

I personally have a similar comic idea…that is if I could draw. But I’m more of a writer than an artist.

I like the way you think, it reminds me of myself when I’m not going through a scruple fit. Would you be interested in telling me more about your story privately? I should like to hear about it.

 

[Viki63]

Hi Otaku,
Your question reminds me of the Doctor Who episode The New Earth, wherein the nuns running the hospital are cats. If you haven’t watched it on YouTube you should do so. They’re completely human in all respects except that they have fur, whiskers, paws etc. It seems purr-fectly normal once you get used to it, and in no way disrespectful to real nuns. It looks like maybe cats evolved to be as intelligent as humans, but I didn’t catch any explanation.
I don’t see any problem with your portrayal of religious as animals. Seems to me that your work will be fantasy, however you want to slice it: alternate universe, anime, whatever, since it’s not realistic.
Think about Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. You’ve read that, right? You can’t write anything worthwhile until you have: the 20th century’s greatest book. He creates an alternate universe which is completely compatible with Catholicism, without a hint of religion among his characters. I think once people stand in silence to say grace for a minute, that’s all. (Or maybe you’ve seen the movies.)
So you don’t really need to add religion to make your work Catholic. It depends on your worldview: is the power behind reality good, or not? Are good actions rewarded and evil punished, or not? But if you want to have furry creatures who are religious, that’s ok too.

 

[BobCatholic]

Secondly, I should point out at this point that my furry characters are not like the little rabbit in the wiki article, you know that Peter Rabbit style where they’re normal animals that stand upright. They’re actually very human. The only thing that doesn’t make them human is the fact they have the ears, nose, and tail of whatever animal they are based on. In all other regards, they’re fully human in biology and appearance. The reason I point this out (where it otherwise may seem irrelevant) is because they are not merely animals acting like humans or animals with animal minds mimicking humans. They ARE humans, full-size humans with the exceptions noted and live as human society does.

Remember humans are created in God’s image - we don’t LOOK like God, we just have his dignity.

So who cares if they’re furries or whatever. If they’re human, that’s all it needs. I think scripture says that even animals can believe in God (Didn’t a donkey yell at someone in the OT for something God told them to do?)

I think you’re making the issue more complicated than it really is.