gaming Is Pokemon Satanic?

[Phanact 333]

If you look up "is Pokemon satanic" on the Internet, the first thing you come up with is a video. I did some internet research about it, and apparently religon does not like Pokemon. Do you know anything that people hate on relentlessly?

 

I was told never to play Halo because it was specifically hating on Christianity when it was more mocking blind faith

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,162]

I certainly do not believe Pokemon to be satanic, but being brought up in a fundamentalist-believing Baptist church I was definitely taught otherwise.

 

1. The preacher overtly and bluntly said to the congregation that if your children own anything relating to Pokemon that it should be thrown away and burned. He went on to say that the "monster" in Pocket Monster is a reference to demonic beings from Hell and, thus, anything monster-related is Satanic.

 

2. A youth leader for a Wednesday service said that she watched a documentary or an interview (can't remember which) in that the creators of Pokemon admitted to wanting to turn kids away from God and that they had intentionally make Pokemon to do just that.

 

I am not kidding; this mindset exists!

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,303]

Why focus on Pokemon?  Yes, I realize it's a popular franchise and irrefutably the source of all evil in the world, but Shin Megami Tensei (where you fight and recruit "demons" in a manner at least vaguely similar to Pokemon) strikes me as a much better target for ridiculous cries of "Satanism."  Oh wait: The people making these dubious connections don't know what the hell Shin Megami Tensei even is.

 

I'd hate to point out the obvious (though one man's obvious is another man's complete and utter bewilderment), but everything under the sun isn't either a force for good or a force for evil.  Pokemon is just...  Pokemon.  It's one of the more innocuous-seeming franchises that's survived modern gaming.  I knew a kid years ago whose mother wouldn't permit to play Final Fantasy games.  Why?  Because they involved "black magic."  You know: Like fire and ice magic.  Dunno how she felt about "cure" and shit like that.  And I'm talking the old school games where everyone looked like a super-deformed baby doll.

 

There's no correlation whatsoever between Pokemon and- oh.  Oh, wait.  I found evidence to the contrary.

That proves it.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

1. The preacher overtly and bluntly said to the congregation that if your children own anything relating to Pokemon that it should be thrown away and burned. He went on to say that the "monster" in Pocket Monster is a reference to demonic beings from Hell and, thus, anything monster-related is Satanic.

By that "logic," shouldn't all copies of the bible also be thrown away? o_O  I mean, that thing references Satan and demons a hell of a lot more than Pokemon ever has.  How come the bible gets to have a monopoly on references to the devil?!? xD

[Looking Glass 197]

Hmmm....So that's why that Miltank in Gen 2 was so hard to beat! It was Satan all along!

 

Though in all seriousness, the sort of religous person that would believe that a computer game is harmful to their religion probably haven't considered that it's only fiction. Or have likely got their info second hand.

 

Or are really scared of the implications of the Helix Foccil on todays youth.

 

Religious worryworts have been creating hubbub over the oddest things, such as barcodes in the 80's. They thought they were the 'Mark of the Beast' for some reason. Here's a relatively recent example:

 

https://newrepublic.com/article/110542/barcode-mark-beast-resurfaces-texas

 

There's a link to the 'theory' behind it but I gave up after a quick flick though on the bizarre on offer here.

The barcode remark reminds me of one of my aunts many strange ramblings, how Satanists imprint their evil on barcodes at Walmart. She is a religous Zealot and a officially diagnosed Paranoid Schizophrenic, so crazy statements are normal with her.

 

  I swear the local priest must be feeding this stuff to her for a laugh, he knows she is nuts and will beileve anything he says!  

[HereComesTom 2,269]

My own mother was convinced Pokemon was satanic, but not for any of the reasons I've read in this thread so far:  it was because their in-game abilities---conjuring lightning, psychic abilities, producing more water than should fit in their bodies, etc. etc., weren't natural.

 

...I'm serious:  that was the extent of her reasons for believing it.

 

In a conversation I had with her a few years ago, I pointed out that Pokemon takes place in a fictional universe, and when an author makes a fictional universe, they can make up whatever laws of physics they want for it.  I mean, she didn't complain about warp drive in Star Trek being demonic!  When I pointed this out, she got a look on her face that said, "I don't have an answer for that, but I don't feel right about agreeing..."

[Number62 1,264]

This quote in the following video is relevant. (11 min, 39 sec)

 

Or just click this link.

 

Edited April 22, 2016 by Number107

[CP3_P0n3 170]

I feel sorry for the guy who made pokemon. I thought religious people are smart enough to know pokemon spews kids lines and cute monster mixed with rabbit or some kind. Just like @ said, its probably the haters. btw I'm not into pokemon, its a childhood thing now.

[Shanks 10,816]

I feel sorry for the guy who made pokemon.

I don't because he is probably laughing at these lunatics with his $5.1 billion fortune from his creation (I have no clue how much that is in yen but it is a lot).

 

https://gamebeyond.com/5-billionaires-made-money-video-games/

[Steel Accord 6,660]

 

 

This is just the matter of paranoid people overanalyzing something.

 

Not even over analyzing because even cursory digging into the themes and motifs of Pokemon would reveal nothing more sinister than "collect stuff!" 

[Leave a Whisper 703]

I don't because he is probably laughing at these lunatics with his $5.1 billion fortune from his creation (I have no clue how much that is in yen but it is a lot).

 

https://gamebeyond.com/5-billionaires-made-money-video-games/

The best revenge is living well.

[CP3_P0n3 170]

@@Shanks, You are probably right, but from an artist view, it hurts. At least for me it is. Still $5.1 billion, meh

[Steel Accord 6,660]

I remember hearing about this as a kid. Growing up in a Catholic school, pokemon cards were banned. (Not that it bothered me, I stuck to the games and show.) However, it wasn't for doctrinal or spiritual reasons but because some of the students were getting into fights over them. Can you imagine that nowadays? Physical confrontations over trading cards?

 

 

In other news, you know what I heard one poor sap's parents accusing of being satanic? MLP. Yeah, My flippin' Little Pony as a tool of the Adversary! Not sure whether to laugh or cry. Their reasoning? Similar to @@HereComesTom, 's story. Twilight's levitation and other assorted magical abilities.

 

Ugh, they make us all look like paranoid idiots.

 

1: Evolution.... Pokemon features creatures that evolve....as we know hard core creationists are hell bent on demonizing evolution because it pretty much destroys a quarter of the bible.

Brief aside: evolution has been accepted by the Catholic Church for decades. Not to mention that the "evolution" in Pokemon is in no way representative of the actual thing being an instant transformation of a single creature rather than the gradual mutation and adaptation of whole species.

 

2: The origin of the game is Asian.... Asian countries do not have a majority of Christian followers, in fact the most prolific religions in Asia are very different from the narratives in Christianity, and many do not have a god. This has led to the demonizing of Asian cultures by extremist creationists.

Yeah, very good point. Shinto no doubt had a very large influence on the Pokemon mythos with other mythologies being mixed in as the series went on. In Shinto, they do have gods and some that even resemble the Greek and Norse pantheon, but just as often they are usually what we would call "nature spirits." Like a single river or a forest or mountain each has a spirit that is not only its life force and consciousness but the protector of the physical thing.

 

This likely gave rise to the various pokemon types, an extrapolation of the belief that aspects of the world have their own souls just given a definitively physical presence in the world of the game.

 

 

3: False idols: Games where you raise creatures or play god are often demonized by extreme creationists because they believe the players are giving into false idols... pokemon just so happens to fall into this category.

 

Fair enough, but if they actually played the games, and let's be honest they never would, they would understand that a trainer's relationship with their pokemon is more akin to owning a pet. So unless that family also feels perfectly justified in calling dogs or cats "false idols" . . .

 

You know the worst part about this is that, there actually ARE some pretty messed up aspects about Pokemon. Let's not beat around the bush, the series is based around something similar to cock or dog fighting. Not even mentioning letting minors go out on their own with no formal education. Or the criminal teams that engage in unethical scientific experimentation that would give PETA a heart attack. The seeming lack or at the least neglectfully small presence of law enforcement anywhere outside of a major city.

 

Not to say that all games have these problems or interpret them in different ways, just making a point that if you REALLY wanted to point out moral problems in the franchise, just calling it "Satanic" for cursory and often completely groundless symbolism is actually hurting their argument.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Steel Accord

[Mudkillz 11]

Look at this vid. (Towards the end is the Pokemon part) it's the one that got me interested in the whole thing in the first place.

 

http://www.veoh.com/m/watch.php?v=v15623620d22bZfKs

Edited April 22, 2016 by Mudkillz

[Member Berry 1,217]

LOL no. It's a game aimed mostly for children where you capture digital pixels and battle against one another. I do not believe that Satoshi Tajiri and Game Freak had any satanic views creating this in the slightest.

 

There's far worse shit going on in this world than a children's game. People's priorities are messed up.

Edited April 23, 2016 by Kayleigh

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,934]

I will be honest, this is the first time I have heard of this at all.   Apparently I am super late to the Satanic Pokemon Party. XD