The Hidden Ideological Warning Of Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 has been announced to a lot of controversy, some from Christian groups objecting to its portrayal of Christian cult leader Joseph Seed as the antagonist and his attacks on the surrounding populations in the fictional area of Hope County, Montana.  Realistically, Far Cry 5’s setting is an analogue and criticism of the dangers of Islam* rather than Christianity. 

The setting of the game puts the antagonist, Seed, in control of a large para-military force that has control of Hope Country.  His control of the area allows him to force the religious practices and rules of his cult onto the local population.  OK, so far so good.   However, there are no Christian terrorist groups that can claim control over swaths of land where they force religious subjugation.  However, there is the current example of ISIS that claim large parts of the middle east under their cult’s banner (Islam).  They operate a para-military force, follow a cult and they force strict adherence to the traditional Islamic values, persecuting non-believers and other religious sects.  Nice match to Seed’s vision.

What else?  Let us look at the setting synopsis of Far Cry 5 as described by Wikipedia; “…Seed is a radical preacher and Eden's Gate is a militaristic doomsday cult. Under his rule, Eden's Gate has used both coercion and violence to forcibly convert the residents of Hope County…”  Does that sound familiar?  It should do, it’s in line with a cogent interpretation of the Koran which ISIS follow.  It instructs on the conquest of non-believers and their forcible conversion to the values of Islam. 

Examples from the Koran to substantiate this comparison and assertion include;

4:89 “Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…”

3:56 “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony…”

9:29 Fight those who believe not in Allah [..] nor hold forbidden that which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth (Islam) …”

8:39 “And fight with them until there is no more fitna [unbelievers] and religion is all for Allah…”

47:3 “Those who disbelieve follow falsehood […] so when you meet those who disbelieve smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond (enslave them) …”

You get the idea…

We must remember that we live in a post Charlie Hebdo world - with significant Islam apologists on the political left.  Far Cry 5 is a depiction of the explicit militant tenets of Islam, dressed in Christian clothing so to be palatable to a politically correct, western-civilization hating media and population.  

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Edit:  Now that Far Cry 5 is out, it appears to be a cracking good game.  As I expected, everyone is focusing any political discussion on its controversial take on "Trump's America" or "Christian middle-America".  This is still missing the point, as I explained in the post above, and shows just how mentally damaged we are in the west.  People miss that this is not a depiction, even hyper-realized, of Christianity but of Islam.  Or, as Douglas Murray would say, "we have internalized the Fatwa". 

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* Note on the terminology of Islam and Islamic groups

I will not use the term “modern Islam” in this article because it is a misnomer.  Islam is inherently an ancient cult, since it has not had a period of modern reformation and readjustment to modern / secular values (for example, in the way Christianity has).  Islam in its current state consists of only 3 groups (as viewed by those employing violence in the name of Islam itself):

1 “Extremists” who follow or tacitly condone the violence instructed in the Koran explicitly, who despite the label are surprisingly numerous world-wide.  

2 “Apostates” – these people call themselves Muslims, but would be viewed as non-believers by the extremists as they are not of the right sect and don’t follow the Koran’s teachings “properly”.  Ironically to outsiders, this group makes up the majority of victims of Islamic violence. 

3 “Non-believers” – essentially all other religions or secular people. Extremists don’t differentiate between groups 2 & 3 in how they apply violence to them.  

Decline of (the West) Christianity

The decline of religion in the West has come at the expense of community values, certainty over personal morals and a reduction in the harmony our shared ideology.  Worse, this vacuum has allowed a diverse but irrational and unproductive list of values to take hold in society.  This is causing down-stream political problems and confusing in-group / out-group behaviors. 

Religion has always been a tool, used both to accomplish good and bad outcomes.  Built into religion are essentially a pre-formed set of morals and values.  These are inferior to ones derived from intentional derivation from philosophical arguments.   This is most easily shown by their inability, in most religions to be re-assessed over time.  Side note -  this is not to underplay the renaissance and modernization of Western Christianity over the last few hundred years to give this exact, sorely needed evolution of its values.  

The study and product of philosophy (in the academic and Greco-Roman period sense) is precisely to produce morals and values that are logically deduced and able to be adapted to fit the world around you, including changing them over time as required. 

The idea presented by anti-theist philosophers like Nietzsche was to replace religion with intentional, logical philosophy discovery, not to simply discard it.  What has actually happened to most of the atheist community in the West is a reduction in the introspection and intentional creation of moral codes and values.  Instead, narcissism, ego, vapid pop-culture emulation and nihilism stemming from the post-modern school of thought has coalesced to produce new generations that are unable to think critically about philosophy or appreciate the history that has produced the Western world.  

The promotion of philosophy and logic are foremost in the fight back to re-energise and re-empower the collective consciousness of the West.  This can take place in academia, where social studies should not take primacy over formal, classical philosophy; and in everyday life, by people taking more time to critically evaluate their morals and values and pick up a philosophy book once in a while.  

In the meantime, we must remember that while often outdated, the values that underpin Christianity are indeed what has guided the Western world (which is the best society we have ever created, by the way, despite its flaws).  We should consider these values' relevance today, even if we personally are agnostic / atheist - and realize that we are more philosophically alike our Christian fellows, than not.