Why is there so much Christian symbolism in Hellboy II?
Crucifixes do not automatically mean “Christian”! It was not until Christianity became paganized (or paganism was Christianized), when the cross image came to be thought of as a Christian symbol, part of worship. Crosses in churches was introduced in A.D. 431; the use of crosses on steeples did not come about until about 586. The Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says the cross originated among the Babylonians of ancient Chaldea, used as a symbol of the god Tammuz. Almost any book of ancient Egypt shows the use of the Tau cross (shaped like the letter “T”) on old monuments and walls of ancient temples. Seymour says that the cross, unchanged for thousands of years, “was reverenced . . . among the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Mexicans, and every ancient people of both hemispheres,” The Cross in Tradition, History, and Art, pp. 22, 26. The cross had been a sacred symbol of India for centuries among non-Christians. Prescott reports that when the Spaniards first landed in Mexico, they
