Religion in FFX: Good or Bad??

[§håd0w]

yea, u could consider it to be sacreligious (like one of my best friends did). or u could just be like screw it like tidus, auron, and rikku did

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

I realize that I am no expert on this, I haven't had the opportunity to play through the entire game, but, lacking the PS2, I did the next best thing which is read through the storyline, which has given me the following conclusion on the religion of FFX:

The worship of Yevon seems to be a reflection of the Roman Catholic church in the middle ages, in which they had the absolute authority. However, it also demonstrates how crucial religion is to human nature. Due to our need to believe in a higher power, some greater being to which grants our life meaning, or some reward waiting for us after we die, we create religion. However, it, like humans, can be corrupted. I think this was demonstrated very well in the game (from what I've seen and heard) giving it a very negative feel. However, the worship of Yevon in the game may not actually be BAD, so to speak, it seems that the major point is that the corruption OF the religon is the bad thing.

(This is all from the view of a Christian by belief, Roman Catholic by name, and one who chooses to live life as he believes is expected of him, not submitting to the trumped up, empty ceremonies of the church)

[Atma Weapon]

Final Fantasy X could present a negative or positive opinion on religion. The peoples prayers were useless and actually served to feed the demon which they prayed against. This (IMHO) is symbolic of people praying to god only to be killed by natural disasters which they beleive he caused. This theory assumes that Sin is cast in the role of god, which makes perfect logical sense considering that he is believed to be good and is worshiped by the majority of people.
However one could also assume that Sin is symbolic of satan and the worshipers of Yevon are devil worshipers who are destined to be destroyed by the one they worship. In this way FFX could be interpreted as a warning to satan worshipers. Of course one must always accept the third possiblity of this whole discussion being useless and there being no meaning or a completely different meaning behind FFX's story.
It should be known that I am an aetheist with a strong working knowledge and respect of Christianity. My opinions are in no way certain and do not take precedence of the opinions of others, but I do have an informed yet impartial view of the subject. I hope this helps if I'm not to late and you can quote me if you think i said anything quoteable.

[lemonation]

It didn't give off a bad vibe about religion, just about a religion. It showed that blind faith is bad. Religion is not a fit form of government. And anything, given time, can become corrupt.

[droggen]

Originally posted by Atma Weapon
Final Fantasy X could present a negative or positive opinion on religion. The peoples prayers were useless and actually served to feed the demon which they prayed against. This (IMHO) is symbolic of people praying to god only to be killed by natural disasters which they beleive he caused. This theory assumes that Sin is cast in the role of god, which makes perfect logical sense considering that he is believed to be good and is worshiped by the majority of people.
However one could also assume that Sin is symbolic of satan and the worshipers of Yevon are devil worshipers who are destined to be destroyed by the one they worship. In this way FFX could be interpreted as a warning to satan worshipers. Of course one must always accept the third possiblity of this whole discussion being useless and there being no meaning or a completely different meaning behind FFX's story.
It should be known that I am an aetheist with a strong working knowledge and respect of Christianity. My opinions are in no way certain and do not take precedence of the opinions of others, but I do have an informed yet impartial view of the subject. I hope this helps if I'm not to late and you can quote me if you think i said anything quoteable.

Hmm here's my take on it.
It showed organised religion is kinda a bad thing if you look at it.
And the Yevonites are symbolic of christians and catholics.
If your not one of them your a heathen and must be destroyed.
What i dont like about organised religion is they make God out to be very insecure and lacking selfconfidence.
Now don't get me wrong i am not a god hater i do belive in a god just not the faith alot of people have formed around God.
And yes whoever said that organised religoin is corrupt i have to agree.
And correct me if i am wrong but wasn't one of the commandment's thou shalt not worship graven image's?
Then explain the pope or the easter bunny.

[SOLDIER #819]

*INCOMING FINAL FANTASY X SPOILERS (ALL DISCS!)*

Hmm...This may seem a bit out of the blue, but it's also my opinion that...Hmm...How do I put this...

Well, first off, if you consider Yevon to be an actual religion in the first place, I would more than likely not relate it to symbolism between religions such as Christianity/Catholicism (Forgive me if it has been spelled incorrectly.), and "common man" (People outside the governing powers inside the church.). And when I say symbolism, I mean it. I do not think it was SquareSoft's true intention to point at specific religion, but instead to spread a certain moral.

The moral, I believe...Is that sin (can) exist within all men, and when "one" (In this case, an all-governing religion) is given a tremendous amount of power and left unchecked when having it, that "person" can and/or will use it for the benefit of only those he/she deems worthy. If not at the founding stages of this religion, then later on as power makes a transition from person to person.

To clarify, I am not saying that religion will always be on a path to destruction, as religion in its purest form is a beautiful thing. I am saying that if the "governing faces" of this religion are left unchecked, that atrocities might occur. To go a bit deeper, I believe the moral is that one should not invest so much faith in a religion/government/governing religion that it becomes blind, and that your defenses are torn away from you.

But I do not think that is the true case with Yevon, to some degree. I believe Yevon was a creation used to control the populace, using the summoning magics as pressure. Because of this, war between different colonies in Spira, if not stopped by Sin's rampage, was stopped by the sudden unification of Spira through Yevon's charisma and the action of the summoners.

In other words, it used the Summoners' "grasp" over Sin and in turn, the people's hearts, to create a religion/government that could make world-changing decisions with ease in the name of good. In Yevon's totality, the only truth in the ways of Yevon was the way of the Summoner. The restriction on Machina, although in some ways used for good, as to stop another outbreak of war to occur, was betrayed by the people who created the law themselves, and used to create a military in Bevelle (To some degree, I'm only speculating.). The rule in where the Summoner should send and bring peace the souls of those who die, it was also betrayed in order to prolong the life of two Maesters. The teaching that once the people of Spira had "repented for their Sins", Sin would disappear, was untrue as well, and was most likely the base for many restrictions.

Even the ways of Summoner, to some degree, were inhumane, as a Summoner must sacrifice a Guardian to take form as the Final Summon, then sacrifice themselves in order to summon it. Yu Yevon would then possess the Final Summon, and after years of a "Calm", Yu Yevon would return with a reborn Sin. This created a "Spiral of Death". Until Tidus, Yuna, and the party had found an alternative solution, which would destroy Sin permanently, there most likely wasn't even a thought of another solution to rid Sin, because of the teachings that Yevon had implemented.

To summarize, I do not believe that Yevon was a true religion to start with (Or at least, that's a concept I find believable.), as it simply exploited the Summoner's ways to climb into power, and place rules that would keep a fixed hold on Spira through the power of false teachings and blind faith, and therefore keep the "Spiral of Death" intact.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

That is a really good point. I would not at all be surprised if that was what Square was trying to say with the game.

[Yunaknight]

it was what wakka was all about

[nightmare sumire]

However , you know the religion can convey the hope to the people in Spira in the condition like that .
There is also a reason for existing .
Just as maester Mika said , they destroyed Yunelasca ,
they had destroyed the hope of Spira .

[Kalel]

What the heth are you talking about? It was part of the story and made game good. The religion in game had nothing to do with real life religion, just more stuff to complain about! If you hate religion fine, keep it out of the forums and stick to game!!!
Xenosaga has more religion in it than FF10 and it has christian religious beliefs in it!. I heard no complains there. But IN FF series, so called fans complain about everything!

[droggen]

Originally posted by Kalel
What the heth are you talking about? It was part of the story and made game good. The religion in game had nothing to do with real life religion, just more stuff to complain about! If you hate religion fine, keep it out of the forums and stick to game!!!
Xenosaga has more religion in it than FF10 and it has christian religious beliefs in it!. I heard no complains there. But IN FF series, so called fans complain about everything!

That's because they didn't take XenoSaga sewriously.
Now tack the religous implacations onto a game where they paid attention and you see what i mean?
IMHO it mirrored religion quite closley!
Remember where this game was made the western religions are a minority nor a majority.
So they got a outside view of thier religion in a nuyshell.