Aretheus, it is precisely because they are making reference TO Christianity that the "church" is portrayed this way.
In Asia there is no true centralized church, Shintoism, Buddhism, Taoism (I think), etc, are all small separate temples (some that come together and corm larger groups, but rarely does something like the centralization of a Pope come to be). Thus when it is "the church" is is virtually always evil (precisely because it comes to wipe out all other faiths, i.e. monotheism, i.e. Christianity).
On the other hand if f the faith is portrayed as temples, it is usually NOT evil, but that isn't a "the church" setting, it is an "our temple of the '...' (god)" setting.
So, yes, typically relivion/faith is a good thing in Asia, but it isn't monotheism, it is polytheism (multiple gods versus one god). Even in Buddhism other people can become a Buddha.
(It has been over a decade since I studied world religions, please don't quote me on this.)