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If the characters in Pokemon were/are any religion what would it be?

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Cindyblock

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If the characters from the Pocket Monsters anime were any religion I am not quite positive if they are or not. But, if they were what would they be aside from some sort of Pokemon faith? I am positive that they would all or some of them would be of different faith, would they not? For Satoshi, Kasumi, Hakura, Hikari, Takeshi, Dent, Iris etc. What religion do you think they would possibley be? My best guess is Buhddist because of their origin is Japan. What are your favourite thoughts on this matter? Please, do, discuss!:-)
 
Really don't know. My only certainty is that Barry and Bel would be Scientologists and Paul and Max would be Atheist XD
 
Cindyblock said:
My best guess is Buhddist because of their origin is Japan. What are your favourite thoughts on this matter? Please, do, discuss!:-)
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That is what I thought too. IMO the jewels on several Pokemon's foreheads represent the third eye. Evolution could arguably be their equivalent of reincarnation. Pokemon Battles are practised by the protagonists not to attack or hurt, but for the pursuit of mutual self-improvement. Also, the sages in the Sprout Tower are Buddhist. But that's just what I've noticed, and I'm interested to hear about other ideas people have on this subject.
 
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I think the talking Slowking from "Yadoking's Day" is a Taoist. That's all I've really got to say on the matter.^^
 
Most of Japanese people is religiously syncrestic (Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Abrahamic religions, etc...). So it's not really simple to guess about their beliefs. Also:

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I think that's part of Buddhism. Or Shintoism?
 
garrison-san said:
The Cult of Arceus?
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I don't think a cult - it's probably a fully legitimate religion, supported all across the world, with a major following in Sinnoh and Johto.

Maybe Cilan is Mewtwo-ish, Ash is a Mewdhist, Brock prays to the move Attract, Dawn is an Arceuist, and May and Max are Jirachi's Witnesses.
 
Miar said:
The one and the same.
Especially since no other gods have been mentioned, may never be.
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Neither Takeshi or Satoshi did not know anything about Arceus till DP. And he is living at a parallel universe in the anime.
 
martianmister said:
Most of Japanese people is religiously syncrestic (Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Abrahamic religions, etc...). So it's not really simple to guess about their beliefs. Also:

35.jpg


I think that's part of Buddhism. Or Shintoism?
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They also look like prayer hands (unless that's what you meant). Those hand formations were how I was taught as a younger child to pray at Catholic school.
 
martianmister said:
Neither Takeshi or Satoshi did not know anything about Arceus till DP. And he is living at a parallel universe in the anime.
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Neither did anyone else in or out of the universe.
Perhaps it's a variant: Arceus exists, but some sects don't see/think of him as a Pokémon.
 
I don't know what they are but, Christianity definitely exists in the anime because of Christmas(even if they're celebrating it secularly, it still must've came from somewhere Christmas) and also there are crosses on top of the churches whenever they show a wedding scene. Brock made a reference to the bible story of Noah so that means Christianity/Juddisim exists and also, yes I am currently enrolled in Catholic(christian) school and have been the last nine years of my life and that praying with hands folded is how we do it XD. But, what ever they really are will never be confirmed, it's up to you to pretend.
 
martianmister said:
Most of Japanese people is religiously syncrestic (Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Abrahamic religions, etc...)
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This. Pretty much. Japanese people don't have the same approach to religion, in fact most will not identify as being of one faith or another, and they'll celebrate holidays from different origins and religions.
 
I'm going to guess a mixture. There are references to Christianity in the anime (crosses, Christmas, Noah). Religions like Buddhism also seem appropiate due to the region. I'm guessing they also worship pokemon like Acreus. So in conlusion, their religion is likely somekind of hybrid.
 
Cynthia must definitely be Christian and I'm pretty sure she's even Catholic! In DP 40 "Top Down Training" and in the games (both DPPT and HGSS) she gave so many hints that this conclusion is more than obvious.

In the Anime, for example, she was standing in front of the ruins, saying that all she had ever been dreaming of was to be able to meet Dialga and Palkia and in the end also the "original one" (Arceus). This shows to me that she has the greatest religious interest of all the characters in Pokemon. Moreover, her search for the ultimate source of everything clearly alludes to the search for God in our world.
Of course, this is only proof that she's very religious at best, but not that is necessarily Christian. Thus, we have to look at the games. In DPPt Cynthia tells you about the Dragon trio which control the most basic and fundamental constituents of the universe: Time, space and (anti-)matter.
Now some people in our world already consider these three basic building blocks of reality as divine and I'd like to go one step future and say that the Dragon trio might also allude to the Holy Trinity, the most important concept of Christianity. And this very fact finally leads me to the conclusion that Cynthia simply must be Christian! And as if that wasn't enough, in HGSS she's the only one besides the player who's been chosen to see Arceus, the mega-Pokemon so to speak (I usually avoid the term "god" for Arceus). Could it be any clearer? I guess this says it all.

Sure, you could object that there are also trinitarian thoughts in Hinduism, the so-called Trimurti to be precise, but we mustn't forget either that Hinduism is by no means a homogenous religion as you can find all sorts of religious convictions and ideas, reaching from polytheism (in the Vedas) to pure monism (atman). So, as a result I dare say that Trinity is a genuinely Christian concept and that the writers/producers wanted Cynthia to be associated with Christianity when they had her appear in all those religious contexts in both the Anime and the games.

And if this still isn't convincing to you, compare the way she talks and her philosophy with the Christian doctrin of compassion and loving care for all your fellow creatures inclusing animals. There are absolutely no contradictions. On the contrary, I think that her whole way of life is deeply influenced and inspired by the Christian belief.

You already know my theory that Cynthia can't be of this world (=the Pokemon world) but must be some kind of angelic being for the reasons I just mentioned and many more. But no matter if you agree with this, I guess I made my point clear anyway.
 
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