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-Z- (z@gundam.com)
Sun, 3 Dec 2000 12:01:42 -0800
> How very true. this is the reason why those subjects should be taught
> rigorously. When I was in school over here in the philippines, I had the
> fortune of being taught by Irish Jesuits, and boy, they're sticklers for the
> history part, not so much on the math, but the history and language, ugh.
>
> Good question: I don't remember if there were priests in Gundam, aside from
> those mentioned in Duo's past. so...in UC, were there priests?
Tomino seems to go out of his way to avoid established religions, although he
tackles religious questions in a secular humanist way. Newtype, as explained by
Tomino, sounds remarkably similar to the Buddhist notion of enlightenment.
We see remarkable few religious symbols or icons. The only ones that come to
mind off-hand are the caste mark worn by Lalah Sun, which might be considered
more ethnic than religious, and a cross worn by Elie Pazam in Gundam ZZ,
although that may be more of a fashion statement.
When religion does appear, it's usually treated as satire. The Moon Moon colony
in Gundam ZZ, which has lapsed into tribalism, worships deactivated Mobile Suits
as their idols. The Coming of Age ceremony in Turn-A Gundam, involves tribal
rituals such as the application of leeches to purify the blood. Either Tomino's
a rationalist, agnostic if not atheistic, or he steers clear of religion to
avoid contraversy.
On the plus side, differences between people are almost always sociopolitical
and economic, not religious. One could argue that sociopolitical stance has
taken the place of religion -- people believe in things like manifest destiny
rather than divine plan. Racism is also toned down, the slurs traded between
Earthnoid and Spacenoid havng more to do with their politics or lack of
enlightenment than, say, Gihren's "Master Race" theory. Even Hamaan Khan looks
down (literally) on Earthnoids as having spirits "held down by gravity" and not
because Spacenoids are somehow genetically or inherently superior.
-Z-
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