Personally, and as joke-like as it may seem, I always thought the White Mage turned into Jesus on promotion as a kid, and while I don't suspect that was the inspiration now, there are some interesting correlations:

The White Wizard has long reddish-brown hair, Jesus is commonly depicted with long brown hair; the White Wizard has a white robe with red accent, Jesus is commonly shown in a white robe with red accent; White Wizard resurrects the dead, Jesus supposedly did the same; Wizard uses canes and hammers, Jesus supposedly guided a spiritual flock and was a carpenter; Wizard's best hammer shoots lightning, Jesus was supposedly divine and lightning is commonly linked to divine will; Wizard's final spell is Holy, Jesus' final act was apparent ascension into divinity; Wizard's ultimate enemy is demonic, Jesus' ultimate enemy, I assume, is Satan.

As I said before, it's pretty interesting.