Religion is bad, M'kay?

[IoannesBellator]

In some notable Final Fantasy titles, there's a heavy-handed theme that basically tells us that organized religion is evil and should be destroyed. I've looked around, and I cannot really see the justification for what essentially is anti-religion in the games. But in FFXIV, it should have been titled: "FFXIV: Heavensward: Religion is Evil: False Beliefs Must be Destroyed, You Can't Have Any."

I hate how SE neatly swept the issue of religion under the rug, which is just terrible and lazy writing.

Why does Square-Enix consistently portray organized religion as evil? To their credit, in FFXIV, belief in gods itself is not criticized, but when people get together to organize their religion and to establish rules that codify what their members believe in, suddenly, it's always looked at with suspicion, as if founders of organized religion are evil merely because they have power and support by people who trust in them, and not because they genuinely follow the truth.

[Belhi]

HW and FF14 isn't really anti religion. Its about a group that abuse religious devotion of their followers for their own interests and gain. Its not like the religious structure of Ishgard has been destroyed and Ishgardians are all still devout worshipers of Halone. Infact we even see a Garlean who has converted to Halone worship and Garlean's state religion is Atheism. Only the Archbishop has been removed. Infact the worship of Halone is in no way impacted by the secrets the Holy See supressed for years.

Infact generally the abuse of power even for misguided good intentions is a common thread in many fictions, probably because it is a relatable conflict and ties into human concepts of justice. Religion is just an obvious example of a source of power that can be exploited. SE has used Economic, Corperate and Political abuses of power as well in there games. All these sources have been abused in RL on many occations and still are today.

I wouldn't say Religion = Evil in SEs games.

[Dalvy]

Evil organized religion is a common plot in Jrpgs. Too common...

[Deifact]

Because Religion is evil. Just not everyone realises it yet.

[Velox]

founders of organized religion are evil merely because they have power and support by people who trust in them, and not because they genuinely follow the truth.

Or they, you know, could be evil? The point of these stories is to show how man is flawed, even in virtual worlds. We shouldn't believe what man says just because man says it. What one man believes is true may not be true.

If you want the truth to religion, you must hear it from the mouth(s) of God or gods themselves. Don't blindly believe someone who claims to speak for said God or gods. If your god(s) creates a rule and tells you to follow it, then follow it. If a man creates a rule and tells you to follow it, ask him why? If he claims to speak for his god(s), then ask him for proof. If more people did the prior instead of the latter, we wouldn't have the problem of "false beliefs" to begin with.

[Kaiser-Ace]

I think it was obvious as far back as 1.0 that something wasn't right with the Archbishop. All in all The Ishgardian Orthodox Church worshiped Halone The Fury, they still do even now that the papacy has been crippled.

But the Papacy was the corrupted part not the church it's self. As a matter of fact if you talk with the priests and scholars in the temple after defeating Thordan the NPCs are actually discussing how to incorporate these new revelations into the teaching. So they're attempting to mitigate the damage ahead of time. And honestly I think the nobles will be the only ones who have a problem with it since it proves that they are no better than anyone else thus throwing their "I am mightier than thou" attitude out of line.

As for the followers of Halone, it kinda seems Halone is very Laze Fair about her followers and doesn't actively try to guide them where as The Papacy, more than the Orthodoxy its self, was attempting to userp even Halone herself by making Thorden into a Primal to force the entire planet of Hydaelyn beneath his heel.

TL : DR
Archbishop bad, Halone Good, Church of Halone... Kinda Neutral.

[Martin_Arcainess]

Religion itself ain't bad it's the people who choose to act bad upon it.

[-Krypyonite-]

ARR and HW story are, first of all, sort of Dark Fantasy.

It's story its not colourfull and happy and cheerful. It doesn't only shows the good side of stuff, but also the bad side.

The bad side of religion its not of religion itself, its about demagogy, ''undeniable truths'' . Those who abuse it, are therefore, bad. That is pretty common, religion isn't bad, just its fanatasim, wich is what is shown. what a ''truth'' of a thousand years has led them.

The same way Garleans are based in Romans. Allag/mhach based of Egypt. Sharlayan based of ancient Greece. Ishgard shows a theocracy wich, architecture, social pyramid resemble the European cristianity. That is a fact. But as far as i remember, ascians/zodiark in overall are the only darksided thing we see. Heck, we even see Elidibus, wich is not exactly malefic.

We have the good and bad parts of war. The good and bad of a sultanate heavily corrupted, we got the good/bad within a pirate comunity/city.

We have even Ysayle, wich is an heretic! I mean, everything in this story is having a reason, yeah some stuff are based off reality, some more heavily than others. But we never see, or rarely see anything only being good or bad. And in real life is the same, there is always the ones that abuse their power. Matters not if in religion, politics, economy etc. The concept is the same.

the story is, and will always be GREY. And ofcorse, there are subjects that might touch you more than others. Specialy if they go against your vision/ideals.

you do realise that stuff like inquisition are considered bad regardless....

[Alihabra]

The Ishgardian religion was bad because they systematically kicked people off cliffs for so much as being in the general vicinity of dragon-themed jewellery. They made this abundantly clear pretty much as soon as we entered Coerthas, long before Heavensward was even considered.

It seems less like they're saying that 'religion is evil when it's organised,' but more like 'organised religion is easily corrupted by the excessively pious and those in power looking to use it to further their own ends.' In HW, The archbishop was evil because he was power-hungry and manipulated his followers, not because he was religious.

[Toranja]

In 2.0 you had a guy posing as a priest that was feeding peons to Ifrit.