Is religion not important in We're Alive?

**LiamKerrington** · Oct 24th, 2012, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by YetAnotherBloodyCheek

@Liam, one of my friends is actually a law student and really an expert for complicated questions. I guess that I simply follow his footsteps...

You have strange friends ... You should ... Wait! Did you refer to ME??? Oh, Lord! What did I do to you???

All the best!
Liam

**reaper239** · Oct 24th, 2012, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Witch_Doctor

I think KC mentioned that religion doesn't play a major roll other than a few names.
Others include :Angel and Saul. Angel - self explanitory, Saul - the Roman who converts to Christianity and changes his name to Paul. Then again, many common European names have some Judeo-Christian origin so we could pull a name out of a hat and likely find a connnection.

saul was a jew who attained roman citizenship.

**Planet marshall** · Oct 24th, 2012, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by Kc

It's safe to assume that there was at least one army chaplain in Fort Irwin and at least one or two active churches in Boulder.

Was it important to the story? Not where we are at now at least. There might be some mention in the future if it's relative.

Chaplains marry people - perhaps thats why Pegs name doesn't show up on the list of 1200 people coming in from boulder?

**Duffusmonkey** · Oct 24th, 2012, 05:07 PM

My first thought is that Religeon plays a small part because pacifists would be overrun because there is no negotiating or surrendering to a Zombie. The obvious conclusion is that only survivalist & selfish people are likely to survive .Like Soldiers , Layers, criminals, prison guards????

BUT That is not what happened. Some of the survivors were: Florist, chef, Doctors, old Ham radio enthusiast, Salesman, Maintenance man, Fat pilot, Nerd, Reserve Solders

The LA crew HAS to wonder how they were lucky enough to survive when people far more capable died. If you realize that only pure luck kept you alive the fear of your luck running out would be unbearable! Believing that a God is protecting you could give you enough hope to keep you sane.

Maybe this means more people are going to crack under the pressure.

**Luna Guardian** · Oct 24th, 2012, 10:02 PM

I don't think anyone would call the religious fundamentalists in the midwest or south as pacifists

**Blues_127** · Oct 25th, 2012, 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by LiamKerrington

Is this the expression of a subconscious hatred of humans?

All Humans, or just different humans?

Originally Posted by Luna Guardian

I don't think anyone would call the religious fundamentalists in the midwest or south as pacifists

Many Fundamentalists couldn't be considered Pacifists, Islamic, Jewish... As a guy raised on the "Bible and the Gun" theory, religious people as pacifists is the last thing that came to my mind.

Zombies are definately human. They just act inhuman. They are already dead humans according to some theories. All these factors help remove the guilt of wanton destruction of thier race and making it so you can enjoy WA without wondering what kind of horrible person am I? You wouldn't need to try overly hard to dehumanize them if you forced to kill them. I imagine in real life, if Zday were to come, once the adrenalin stopped, and you had a moment to think about it, there would be some complicated feelings to contend with.

Is it moral to kill them? Don't most moral systems allow for self preservation? Should you forgive them? I can only speak for the things I know about... and I can imagine a faith that worships someone who rose from the dead could have some really interesting views on Zombies... and the subsequent healing of them. Just as you were once dead in your sin and the Lord forgave you and brought you back to truth and the life, so must you do with these former Zombies. Totally can see it. I wish I had time, cause I would totally take a whack at fan fic dedicated to encorperating religious zealots, whack jobs, and your more normal Bible belt Christian. I'd also whack the westboro babtists.

**YetAnotherBloodyCheek** · Oct 25th, 2012, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by Blues_127

All Humans, or just different humans?

Many Fundamentalists couldn't be considered Pacifists, Islamic, Jewish... As a guy raised on the "Bible and the Gun" theory, religious people as pacifists is the last thing that came to my mind.

Zombies are definately human. They just act inhuman. They are already dead humans according to some theories. All these factors help remove the guilt of wanton destruction of thier race and making it so you can enjoy WA without wondering what kind of horrible person am I? You wouldn't need to try overly hard to dehumanize them if you forced to kill them. I imagine in real life, if Zday were to come, once the adrenalin stopped, and you had a moment to think about it, there would be some complicated feelings to contend with.

Is it moral to kill them? Don't most moral systems allow for self preservation? Should you forgive them? I can only speak for the things I know about... and I can imagine a faith that worships someone who rose from the dead could have some really interesting views on Zombies... and the subsequent healing of them. Just as you were once dead in your sin and the Lord forgave you and brought you back to truth and the life, so must you do with these former Zombies. Totally can see it. I wish I had time, cause I would totally take a whack at fan fic dedicated to encorperating religious zealots, whack jobs, and your more normal Bible belt Christian. I'd also whack the westboro babtists.

I would like to highlight a different aspect. We have to take into account that most of the longterm life goals of the characters have become unsatisfiable / irrelevant. At least for the time being. Let's take a look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The hierarchy can be described as pyramid which is subdivided into five levels: (from base to top) physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization. In order to ascend to pyramid to a higher level, the needs of the current level have to be met.

No matter what level each character could have been assigned at the start of the zombiecalypse, I guess it is safe to say that no one focuses on esteem and self-actualization. They want to live (physiological), to be safe and to be part of a group (love/belonging). How high is the actual chance, that our heroes would have become friends if the world had no gone downhill at nearly lightspeed? Remember what Michael said about Angel and Saul, he guessed that he would not have made friends with them before.

So what is the result? You might have to change / suppress / adapt some of your personal traits or moral standpoints to survive. Just because you do not want be alone, helpless and probably dead sooner or later. Naturally, your faith or socialization, whatever tells you to leave no one behind. But, like WA has told us more than once, it is sometimes better to start running, no matter how altruistic you might have been in the past.

**Blues_127** · Oct 25th, 2012, 10:43 PM

Well said.

**Cabbage Patch** · Oct 26th, 2012, 12:08 AM

Originally Posted by Blues_127

All Humans, or just different humans?

...Is it moral to kill them? Don't most moral systems allow for self preservation? Should you forgive them? I can only speak for the things I know about... and I can imagine a faith that worships someone who rose from the dead could have some really interesting views on Zombies... and the subsequent healing of them. Just as you were once dead in your sin and the Lord forgave you and brought you back to truth and the life, so must you do with these former Zombies...

The clearest example that this was an issue was Colonel Kimmet's reference to military bases that were over-run because their commanders wouldn't authorize the use of force against the zombies.

I personally try to live by the immortal words of Malcom Reynolds in Firefly. "Someone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back." It's like the Golden Rule, but with bullets.