Anti-Religious Sentiment in Video Games (have you noticed?)

[CloakedOne]

I've noticed and I'm A-Ok with it. It's a sign that the opiate of the masses may be losing its effectiveness on people and games are making an honest attempt to be the rehab. besides, so many other media are shoving religion down our throats all the time and they need a counterbalance.

 

[Twilight_guy]

If you made a video game that praised religion it would be labeled as a religious game and no one would buy. If you make fun of the Church, gamers don't care and the Church is far to big to care. If you don't touch religion, once again nobody cares. It's less about making fun of religion and more about the fact that going in the opposite direction is a recipe for disaster so they can only mock religion.

 

[Danzaivar]

...Silent Hill and Dead Space, have plots in which the damage of religion is the MAIN FREAKIN' PLOT. "Unitology" is a huge, hilarious middle finger to Christianity, and Dead Space is STILL flying off shelves! Which brings me to my main point.

To be honest I thought Unitology was a piss-take of Scientology more than anything. Similar sounding name, emphasis on spending money to climb higher as well as the sci-fi twist of it all.

Tho yes in general games tend to have anti-religious sentiment. Then again they're high on the "blind belief is bad, make your own mind up". Could be a correlation of sorts.

 

[Gunsang]

I've noticed and I'm A-Ok with it. It's a sign that the opiate of the masses may be losing its effectiveness on people and games are making an honest attempt to be the rehab. besides, so many other media are shoving religion down our throats all the time and they need a counterbalance.

I'm sorry, but what forms of media are shoving religion down our throats? Also I doubt that the people who make video games care about being rehab for "the opiate of the masses"(nice term, I'll have to use it sometime).

 

[pwnzerstick]

Assassins Creed explicitly says that religion takes away free will, and puts a branch of christianity as the villans. With many members of the chatholic church and the spiritualized government being portrayed as dishonorable double agents working with the templars.

 

[Yeslek Ssomllur]

Not really, seeing as many metaphors in the Halo Franchise place the protagonist Master Chief in a messiah like role. Take his name "John 117".

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

This is related to the fact that in the Halo Universe Master Chief became an icon for humanity. Giving everyone the message that if humanity united and followed him, we would survive.

Ehhhh... Maybe... I never really bought the whole "common name anywhere near a random number = Bible reference" thing. A Spartan called Joshua 213 probably just had uncreative parents and came after number 212, not "Joshua 2:13-that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."
Seems far fetched, but you might have something.

Regardless, I have never seen Halo as anything but a parody of Judeo-Christian religion. The way that the characters SPEAK even screams patriarchal, monotheistic bullcrap. "When you first saw Halo, were you blinded by its magesty?"

I didn't really care...you're reading way too much into the games anyway...doing that will only make you start hating your favorite franchises.

Well... A strong atheist agenda usually has the opposite effect. It makes me LOVE a game. I don't think that we can really "read too much" into games. They are a growing artistic medium, and before anything (modern art, cinema, etc.) got recognition and therefore a strong community of intelligence, they had people over-analyzing things. If you take something seriously, it will grow to meet your expectations of it. Saying "it's just a game, don't read too much into it" is doing an interesting (albeit currently immature) new form of expression a disservice. We should be demanding depth of thought from our games, not praising convention. In short, if you like video games, you probably should "care."

Also, I realize that Unitology is similar to Scientology. But if someone can name a conceptual difference between Scientology and big, super church Christianity, I will give them a cookie. For serious.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I have noticed this as well. I think (keep in mind this is my opinion) that developers are trying to show what happens when a person or a group high-jacks a religion. I am Christian myself, so I notice this in games, but it never really bothers me. This is probably because too often this happens in real life. I played Silent Hill 3 and was okay with it because the main character calls--repeatedly--the B.S. that the cult is pushing, going so far to say they're even worshiping Satan. In Dragon Age, it is balanced between people who have faith in the Maker, and people who don't. Granted, Morrigan seems to berate the Chantry, especially Leliana, beliefs seem to be wide spread, but Leliana gets through to her eventually. If you listen to the final conversation the two have while walking around, Leliana hits Morrigan's "nail on the head" so to speak. That doesn't seem like mocking to me.

The only game I've ever play that made me uncomfortable was Bayonetta. Granted, I just started it yesterday and haven't even cleared the first level, but it's a little unnerving how one is slaughter servants of God.

 

[Denamic]

games arent really anti religion they seem much more anticult
all the religions you mentioned are violent, and want to somehow destroy the world or kill lots of people
thats a cult, not a religion

Except that a religion is just a really big cult.
If a small group of people held some weird belief that a saviour will descend upon the world to save their immortal souls from eternal damnation, it would be considered a cult. However, if that cult spread and became a major part of society, it would be considered a religion instead. It would also probably organize "anti-cult" movements to remove opposing beliefs.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Ever played a Shin Megami Tensei game? Yeah, in a few of those the final boss is almost literally the Judeo-Christian god. Talk about the subtext becoming the main text.

 

[Poofs]

games arent really anti religion they seem much more anticult
all the religions you mentioned are violent, and want to somehow destroy the world or kill lots of people
thats a cult, not a religion

Except that a religion is just a really big cult.
If a small group of people held some weird belief that a saviour will descend upon the world to save their immortal souls from eternal damnation, it would be considered a cult. However, if that cult spread and became a major part of society, it would be considered a religion instead. It would also probably organize "anti-cult" movements to remove opposing beliefs.

i agree with you completely there, i just meant that of the 12 or so major Religions none of them focus on killing yourself or massive amounts of other people and thats what all the in-game religions he mentioned do

 

[Naheal]

games arent really anti religion they seem much more anticult
all the religions you mentioned are violent, and want to somehow destroy the world or kill lots of people
thats a cult, not a religion

cult
-noun
1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.

2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.

3. the object of such devotion.

4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.

5. Sociology . a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.

6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

7. the members of such a religion or sect.

8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.

?adjective
9. of or pertaining to a cult.

10. of, for, or attracting a small group of devotees: a cult movie.

According to definition 4, all religions are cults. According to definition 6, whether a group is a cult or not is subjective.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Yeah I've noticed it, sure I don't agree but, I've stopped caring, I'm not a minority ;}

I'm in the same group as this fella.
I've noticed it in just about every game I've been playing recently. But I turn a blind eye to it. If I did not associate with things that are against my religion, I'd live in a box with next to no media imput.

 

[zenoaugustus]

I wouldn't say Dragon Age is entirely anti-religious. The myth about the game's religion's God's wife's ashes (crazy amounts of apostrophes) is true. Like, Andraste's ashes are ACTUALLY holy and heal any wound. At the same time, the game kind of makes fun of all religious groups in its own way. So I guess the game is saying that religion itself is okay, it's just how twisted and bent people can make it (please, I'd prefer no flame wars to break out, these aren't my beliefs, they are merely what I observed when I played the game).

And obviously Assassin's Creed (the first and second one). Hell, the bad guy of the second one is the fucking pope, and the game tells you that evolution is true and that there wasn't a god but a group of powerful beings that inhabited the planet before humans.

Edit: Fallout 3 makes nearly every religious sect out to be a bunch of idiots.

Although Oblivion is rather neutral, or leaning more towards the pro-religious side (specifically the Knights of the Nine DLC).

 

[Peteron]

Assassins Creed is all about religion with antagonists. Well, not entirely, but still. It doesn't bother me though, seeing as so many wars in real life are cause by religious conflict.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

...Nope, sorry, I don't see it. However, as far as I can tell, what with its worship of aliens and money-based class system, Unitology is a less-than-subtle dig at that other alien-worshipping money-based religion...

This. I've played Dead Space and Halo quite a bit, and never once did I think "Oh noes, this is an insult to Christian belief!" Scientology on the other hand, seemed like a much more obvious target (in Dead Space, anyway), though for the most part it seems like religion in video games is little more than a framework for story-telling, not a vehicle with which the developers are trying to communicate a life lesson.

 

[Kagim]

Umm... Its a game?

Its a fictitious story based around fictitious events based around the past, present or future.

None of it is real, and it is only a story. It's not anti-religious. it's just a game.

People are just able to use religion more often in stories now. Church's don't hold the same power these days and are more open to interpretation.

It's just a story. Thinking silent hill is condemning Christianity is about as stupid as thinking Cat In The Hat is Condemning Abortion.

Thinking any game is TRULY trying to get people to give up on religion is foolish. It's just a story. People are just reading to much into shit.

 

[Krantos]

Simple answer: Atheism is currently more politically correct than Theism.

Long answer: ehh... I don't really feel like getting into it right now. Basically it has a lot to do with easy stereotypes, atheist writers, and simply what the public is willing to accept.

Truth of the matter is, it's not just prevalent in Video Games, but literature and movies as well (Clash of the Titans anyone?).


From a literature standpoint I like to compare the works of Terry Goodkind and Brandon Sanderson.

Goodkind is an Atheist. Seriously, you need to read just a few pages of any of his books to figure that out. He spreads anti-religious sentiment throughout his entire Sword of Truth series. And he does it badly. Apparently he didn't think basing the entire plot on wonderful, good, beautiful atheists against evil, ugly, dirty religious nuts was enough, so he injects pages of anti-religious monologues into every book. It couldn't be anymore ham-handed if he tried.

Sanderson on the other hand... well, to be honest I'm not sure what his religious views are. I found out recently that he teaches at Bringham Young University (you know, that Mormon place that Stephanie Meier went to), and I was honestly shocked. Religion plays a sizable part in all of his books, but it's not the typical role you usually see. He doesn't play it up as a great wonderful, life-saving thing, nor does he cast it in the same light as Goodkind. Rather, he generally paints a fairly accurate picture of how the various religions would effect the worlds they're in, both positively and negatively. You never get the feeling that he's trying to say that religion is good or bad.
Also, he doesn't limit himself to Christianity as a template. One of his latest books, Warbreaker, actually featured a religion that closely resembled Greek Mythology. Even if his writing, plot, and characters weren't top notch (and they're among the best I've seen) I would still like him just because of the way he treats religion. He treats it with respect, but also with a critical eye for it's failings.

 

[Baneat]

until then the fuckwits will make sure atheism is forced on people.

What? Is that supposed to be a bad thing?

Not like if that's even true. Developers just have quite an imagination, so they project that by depicting what some religious groups can become.

Atheism isn't a bad thing. Forcing it upon people is, though I think the OP used the wrong term to describe it to mask the weakness in the argument.

 

[weker]

Well to be fair, try come up with an idea for a game which promotes religion as a benefit?