Hello Kitty Cross

Sanrio, in its pursuit to make everything Hello Kitty, has decided to take on history and religion at the same time and wants you to believe that it was Hello Kitty, not Jesus, that died for all your sins:

Hello Kitty cross

Hello Kitty religious cross

Hello Kitty swing cross

The only thing that surprises me about this is that Hello Kitty took this long to try to make the claim.

Sent in by medlawcat who should have to worship Hello Kitty on a daily basis for thinking that sending me something like this could ever result in something good.

Update: Apparently the evil feline has to show that she is the main force behind religion with more than on cross necklace:

Hello Kitty cross necklace

Sent in by kristy

Hello Kitty cross

Sent in by Susan

90 thoughts on “Hello Kitty Cross”

  1. Having been station in Japan (Yokosuka) in the 80’s and I am a bible beveling Christian I not sure, and sadly the average, Japanese HK fan or American these days would not grab the significance of the cross let alone an blinged out HK one.
    It is had for me to be overly outraged, there are more important things to worry about, but I am more afraid that churches would use this as a witnessing tool a la seeker sensitive movement. The Gospel of Hello Kitty ( oh the horror the horror )

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  2. On one hand it is cute.

    On the other, it’s like another piece of cheap jewelry, although it is funny that something so profoundly iconic goes to the most superficial levels–not in a bad way, btw.

    Now if it was real stones and silver/platinum, I may think it’s adorable, but to little kiddie for me.

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  3. I just had a bad thought. This could be Sanrio foray into Christian Trinkets. Think of it, Hello Kitty Jesus Junk:
    Hello Kitty Bible Covers
    Hello Kitty IXOYE Instead of a fish they use an outline Hello Kitty head.
    Hello Kitty Miracle prayer Handkerchief.

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  4. i believe hello kitty should suffer a similar torture (and i’d be willing to think up a few for her) but no glory should come of it.
    this is also sick and wrong on so many levels i can’t even begin to explain them

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  5. HK is a character… She’s not Jesus, or Buddha, or Allah, or who ever your religious beliefs tell you to praise. Unless you to are a cartoon, or unless you like to do weird things with your toys, you can’t torture her.. And if you do, I doubt you’d get any reaction from this adorable devil worshipping witch because she can’t blink and has no mouth… Good Lucky with that though :-/

    The cross is cute, it’s not like she’s being crucified on it, so I doubt she’s supposed to be Jesus.. If the Disney cult can do it with all their whacked out characters then HK is entitled to as well

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  6. @Sara Dane
    Your reply more rational than Mr. HKH. It is hard for me to get outraged in fact it looks like a Hello Kitty charm with a cross. I would be more upset if they stuck a Hello Kitty head on Jesus body on the crucifix.

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  7. Weird and frightening. For anyone that is religious, I would assume that your religious pieces would be pure and free from commercialism/marketing. Beside, you could always look at HK fanatics as bearing a false god, or whatever the exact quote is.
    Might be seen as offensive to those that believe.

    But as I already know, nothing is safe from the evil clutches of HK.

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  8. I’m sorry, but I don’t think it goes that far. Many non-believers don’t realize what a big deal it is, and mostly use it as a fashion accessory. I think that’s what happened here, and that HK isn’t making a claim on being savior. (if she ever does, though… look out!)

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  9. Anything to piss off a bible thumper is usually a good thing, but HK on a christian cross is just hilarious! Especially since she’s being crucified… in other words, killed. Of course, most holy rollers won’t get the joke which makes it even funnier to me.

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  10. @ Acton
    Thanks 🙂

    @ Jason
    everyone loves fat heads and short limbs.. lol

    @ RogerThePunk
    how exactly did you come up with HK being crucified… in words, killed… from this necklace?? It’s her head hanging in front of a cross, not her body nailed to it. Those Bible Thumpers must be real scared of you. XD

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  11. well lets see. to begin, i love hk, and i am a christian. but NO, i would not wear this. it is cute but i think that a cross is the last place hk’s head belongs. i do not necessarily find this offensive but there is no connection between a cross and her face that would make me want to wear them together.

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  12. How is it cute? What do you find cute about HK at all? I don’t understand. I’ve seen a lot of different things that I would consider cute… but HK isn’t even close.

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  13. Japan has a long history of reinterpreting/misapropriating Christian imagery. See also: anime such as Big O or Trigun.

    Really, wake me when we have images of the Virgin Mary with Hello Kitty’s head. Hello Madonna!

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  14. There was a Hk church and now a crucifix…well…Billy Idol wore crucifixes before Madonna in the New Wave, since then it’s probably just as fashion much as religious iconry is popular in Lolita culture, and Hello Kitty is Lolita.

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  15. It’s rather disturbing that Sanrio would even consider making this. as well as insulting and blasphemous. If you’re catholic it’s blasphemous because Hello Kitty is not Jesus and is a false idol. If you happen to be protestant, just teh fact that it’s idolatry makes it blasphemous. not that the rest of teh Hello Kitty stuff isn’t idolatry… but this just makes it so blatantly obvious.

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  16. Hello Kitty died for our shopping!

    True Japanese getting Christianity stories wrong:

    In the 1980’s a toy company came out with Jesus on a cross that turned into a fighter ala Transformers. A baffled U.S. toy manufacturer asked why and was told, “It turns Jesus into a winner!”.

    When the Jews opened the first Temple in Japan there was a line around the block with people asking for forms to become Jewish. When the startled Rabbi began asking people why they wanted to be Jewish he was told one right after the other they wanted to be rich.

    We get it wrong,too. When Christians saw Asians burning gifts and special heaven bank notes so their relatives could have these things in the after life they were informed their relatives were all in Hell because they hadn’t heard of Jesus. Undaunted, the Asians began calling the special money Hell Bank Notes.

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  17. Aa usual, my girl HK is even trying to make religion look good. That’s probably the only way you’d get me to read that book of fantasy is to add HK to it! If you do believe in all that nonsense, how could an adorable little kitten phase you in any way??

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  18. @ Kitteh
    it seems to me that you’re the one trolling here.. I can’t understand why some of the people on here are taking this cross so seriously. Like I said before it’s not like it’s a HK being crucified on the cross… This thing has no religious undertones what so ever. I am Catholic, and have a very Catholic family and find this in no way offensive.. Though the common association of a cross is religion it’s not it’s only meaning…

    I stand by what I said before, the HK cross is cute, not blasphemous… As a matter of fact I may give one to my niece for her Communion!

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  19. hk needs to get with it. she needs to conquer ALL religions not just one! come on! let’s see some hello kitty star’s of david! some pentagrams, aumkars, dharma wheels, and the star and crescent too!

    as for me, i’m agnostic. so i’ll just take one of those $1,500 necklaces by Kimora Lee Simmons.

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  20. Kitteh, if one doesn’t believe in Jesus, God or any of those other guys, do you really think I care about blasphemy?? When I saw HK as Hitler, I said laughingly that it was wrong, when I saw her with a machine gun the same, but it was funny as hell!! One of these days I fully expect that I will see her in some pornographic picture-I may not like it, but I’ll probably laugh. That’s the closest thing to blasphemy I can think of. If it bothers me, I won’t look. You probably shouldn’t be looking at false idols-which is what this site is really about—those who cherish (or really hate) Hello Kitty!!!!! Relax already you bible thumpers, God or Jesus can probably take care of themselves seeing how they have reeled you folks in for 2,000 yrs or more…

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  21. Wow, way to push someone’s buttons!! 😉

    As it happens, I’m basically a Humanist, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand and respect other people’s beliefs, and hence why they might find a particular image or work offensive. It doesn’t mean that I agree with them, particularly since I’m also a liberal, except towards people who have illiberal views. 😉 (note [lack of] capitalisations in that)

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  22. HK isn’t nailed to the cross, it looks more like she is being hung (Swinging lefty righty on a rope).

    Maybe HK is Judas?

    She’s even silver and coin shaped!

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  23. This item is disrespectful of Christianity as a whole as well as being just plain tacky and in bad taste. I’m sure someone in the marketing department at Sanrio thought it was cute or part of some inside joke to produce an stylized cross symbolizing that HK is worshiped and such. It’s one thing for an individual to interpret HK in a religious way, such as the moron with the HK as Jesus tattoo, but when a company, a worldwide corporation decides to mass market thier logo on what many resonably consider to be a religious symbol, that shows a lack of sensitivity to those of faith. The marketing department clearly needs some religious sensitivity classes from their human resources department.

    @sara dane: I too am a Roman Catholic and in my 12yrs of catholic school education, I clearly remember that a cross, the image of a cross, and what it represents is sacred to our religious faith. A cross doesn’t have to have Christ on it to be considered a symbol of faith for others. One can argue that the symbol of the cross has transended religion and is now fashionable, but then again, I don’t know nor have come across anyone who is of another faith sporting a cross, (i.e. a peson of Islamic faith for example). I don’t think this item is blasphemous, but more disrespectful. I get your point and yes, to give it to a child may be sweet, but there are alot of people who may just find this pendant at the very least, unsettling to there sensibilities.

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  24. Well this story certainly has become serious. Let’s face a few facts: first of all the sign of the cross begins over 200 years after Christ’s death. Probably in the mid- 200’s. It has one value and one value only- it is to keep away demons. So Christians who use the sign of the cross are acknowledging to the world that DNA, gravity, the world being round be damned- they live in a world of demons.

    The crucifix doesn’t appear in Christianity until OVER 500 YEARS AFTER CHRIST DIED. Oddly, it is turned right side up (perhaps so he could be shown looking up to heaven in religious art) as everyone crucified was hanging from the cross upside down. So Christains all have the crucifix wrong!

    Way back when police departments refused to prosecute Catholic priests for child molesting, a Catholic woman became famous in Florida for shutting down child care centers for massive child abuse. Children were placed in jail and ordered to confess, turn in their parents, etc. It worked. The Catholic parents who were going to the press and police were drowned out by these “recovered memory cases”.

    She became part of the Clinton administration. Don’t believe me? Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal by clicking on my name above.

    It wasn’t just the Catholics. Even Protestant cops refused to file charges. Even Protestants looked the other way when the fake trials started in Florida. Today, Florida has paid off many kids who grew up and revealed how they were co-erced into lying.

    Yet many of the people falsly accused are still in jail.

    Where are the Christians demanding their release? Especially since the kids have been paid off by the state?

    You want to talk about blasphemy?

    If I see one of you in heaven from Janet Reno to Bill Clinton supporters who continue to look the other way, I will take out a whip and force you out of heaven.

    Got it? That does it. I’m getting one of these crucifixes!

    Reply
  25. @ Sanriobabay
    No worries.. I didn’t take anything you said as a personal jab.. I think your points are very valid.

    I just thought in this situation that HK wasn’t being blasphemous, though to some it may look that way, I think people were wanting this silly little cross to be something it wasn’t indeed to.

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  26. Quote from DJ Psychomike “I will take out a whip and force you out of heaven”

    With that attitude you won’t be making it there to see anyone. If God thinks someone good enough to get into heaven I don’t think he’d take too kindly to you whipping them.

    What you say historically speaking is a fair point, terrible things do happen because of religion. I don’t think that makes it okay in the view of their chosen deity. But it’s not your duty to punish them in the afterlife, they have that one covered. Most religions have their own post corporeal system that covers it just fine.

    So just focus on living life the best way you can and let God handle the rest.

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  27. Am not a religious frieeeeek & respect all forms of belief but the HK cross is just wrong… People have a right to dress as they please but this is just not cool…would sanrio make the form of buddha, for example look like buddha??? i dont think so… anyhow its business & at the end of the day thats how they see it…. still i think its disrespectful… thats just me & my opinion…. i prefer the pieces separately, but to be honest after seeing this item of nasty jwlry i think sanrio are a bunch of non believers of anything!!!! not cool!!!

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  28. oh dear. I used to live in Japan and one day a housemate came home in December to tell me he saw a Santa on a cross. an understandable error, the Japanese don’t understand the Christian mythology exactly, bearded guy, christmas guy, must be old Jesus, nail him up! this is the same sort of thing, sort of. they certainly had no desire to offend anyone with this product, believe me, it’s just a cultural misunderstanding. Japanese culture is all about saving face, and not offending anyone in any way.

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  29. I’m roman-catholic, i’m Mexican and i’m Irish, two cutures very serious about their religions.
    i don’t find it offending. it doesn’t say on it “HELLO KITTY IS LORD” no, it’s just a cute acessory that both portrays one’s religious dedication and personal likes, it’s a multi-tasking necklace.

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  30. i think Jesus is not a joke! Hello Kitty is not a religion and! it so bad that sanrio foment this type of jokes Of whom died in the cross of the Calvary for ALL OF US

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  31. GREAT product ! The image of Hello Kitty crucified & tourtured should have DELIGHTED her detractors & critics as she was forced to pay for the sins of others who took her message that she was a messiah WAY too seriously (Wait a Minute , she DOES sound just like Jesus!!!!)
    As Jim Jones & David Koresh found out, you get too obsessed with your faith, & you loose touch with Reality! At Least with Hello Kitty, her crucifix did not end up on top of a building in Waco, or Guyana…..
    Ijn a way its kind of a GREAT message to Christians to lighten up a bit, smile & not take things so seriously that the end up drinking Kool Aid on the 6 o clock news……..

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  32. In the West, it’s a pretty common sight to see, say, Sikh deities screenprinted onto cheap T-shirts sold at student markets. Why? My guess is because they’re considered colorful, interesting and exotic. Why is it surprising that Christian motifs are seen as equally curious in a country where no more than 1% of the population identify as Christian, and equally desirable in trinket form?

    Sure, it could easily be seen as a bit tacky to make Hello Kitty crucifixes. I get that/ On the other hand, I really don’t think covering Ganesha in glitter and sticking him on a tee-shirt is exactly a shining example of cultural sensitivity either, and very few people in the culturally Christian West seem to think that might look a bit tacky to a devout Hindu. Either all of it’s a problem or none of it is: it’s not just an issue when it’s happening to your home team.

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  33. I think that most of the world is evil and deceiveful~
    I dont like the Cross, because it is a signo of a curse, neither I like hello kitty those two together engraved in shine material just show me how the evil presents itself as harmless~

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  34. That’s…just…wrong…

    DJ Psychomike, I’m a Christian and I happen to believe strongly in DNA and things like that. Einstein said, “The more I study science, the more I believe in God.” This last week, scientists cured a deadly brain disease by using a deactivated HIV virus to graft healthy genes onto existing DNA sequences. I refuse to not sit in awe and wonder at that.

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  35. I’m a practicing Catholic, with 12 years of Catholic school and a couple years of Catholic college (major in theology), but I don’t find this blasphemous or really disturbing. Tacky, yes; blasphemous, no.

    Bear in mind that Japan is a non-Christian nation, with Christians forming only about 1% of the population, plus, the non-Christians there have had a long history appropriating imagery from other religions because it looks nice. The Jesuits missionaries from Portugal and Spain wrote back to their superiors about people carrying/wearing rosaries and crucifixes even though they weren’t Christian or even interested in learning about Christianity or becoming Christian. Think about the odd use of Christian imagery and concepts from Kabbalah which all over the place in “Neon Genesis Evangelion” one of the creators of which admitted that they used it because it “looked good”. Or the wonky but lovingly portrayed version of the Catholic Church in “Trinity Blood”: there really *was* a fourteen year old Pope back in the 400s or somesuch, but I doubt the Church is going to give Holy Orders to androids, or elect nuns to serve as bishops, though in a post-apocalyptic world, a brave nun very well might step in to do as much as she can to keep the Christians together and help keep simple religious ceremonies going, which actually happened in Japan in the 1600s, when the Tokugawa regime forced all the Europeans out of the country, including dozens of priests. One of the oddest religious references I’ve seen in anime so far happens in “Yami no Matsuei” aka “Descendants of Darkness”, where the main villain talks about 17th century statues of Buddha which had crucifixes carved on the back, so that Christians in Japan could veil their faith during times when people were being arrested for refusing to give up Christianity.

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  36. Asato Fuyutsuki: You did a better job than I could.
    I wonder were you at the Religion and Anime Panel at Kumoricon. A lot of the same information came out.

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  37. I’m a strong mormon and firmly believe that Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins, but I think it’s kinda funny. Tacky and horrible, but kinda unny.

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  38. if you think this is funny than think not. i mean i love hello kitty and stuff but that is just disrespectful to say things like “jesus didnt die for our sins hello kitty did”. thats just rude jesus died for our sins not HELLO KITTY!!!!!

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  39. oh, heck no. That’s stepping over the line, Sanrio. Its depressing to see what the world has come to. Forgive them god, for they know not what they are doing…

    Reply
  40. It’s not blasphemous; it’s capitalistic. I’ve seen much worse in Christian bookstores. The kind of crap that’s marketed to mainstream Christian culture is pretty sickening. Aside from all that, I’d probably get one if I was a girl.

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  41. oh god. if you dont like it dont get it. i think its really cute. if you believe its wrong, then dont look at it or get it. everyone has theyre own outlook on things

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  42. hey dang that’s fire that so cool i wish i had all those hello kitty things i would rock them every day no lie i love hello kitty to death that’s all i ever ask for is hello kitty i have her all over my school folder even thou im not supposed to

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  43. Its not made to be a joke it made the same reason why any other plain cross is made to show your love for jesus just with your favorite character on it to add some fashion

    Reply

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