Finally started watching fmab...

Finally started watching fmab. I am a few episodes in but can someone please explain to me how Edward can be so flamboyantly atheist/pro-science when he literally meets God in the first episode? Am I missing something?

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>God in the first episode
wasn't God

“science” in this word is alchemy, which doesn't operate on numerically quantifiable objective principles like conversion of mass and energy but on human concepts like “worth” with it's æquivalent exchange meme.

Pic not related, but you should check it out.

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He didn't meet God, he met a bored clerk. Doing any kind of ritual and just find out a snarky weirdo with an attitude like "great, another dumbass" would shake anyone's belief in conventional religions.

The white figure literally tells Edward that he is God
Dont really understand but ill check out the manga

Ed doesn't so much care if God's real, he thinks Truth or God or whatever he is is a prick and makes a point of denouncing its existence.

1) the god that they're worshipping is fake and Edward knows it
2) the god he did meet screwed him over pretty hard (from his point of view)
3) he's making the point that god isn't going to help / save whatever her name which is true. If that being IS god then it's made pretty clear that it's not someone to help with humans / put up with them playing gods themselves. At the very least it can be bribed with human bodies / souls to give people more knowledge since that's literally Father's entire plan so it's hardly a 'good guy'

Truth is just a part of the system of alchemy. He isn't a god anymore than any other basic scientific property. Is density God? Is the second law of thermodynamics?

Anybody and anything can claim to be God, that doesn't make it so.

Edward knows that if there is a God, that thing isn't him.

>The white figure literally tells Edward that he is God

I could be wrong, but I don't think he actually does claim that he is God. I think he says, "you could call me God," or maybe, "Some people call me God."

Something like that. Go back and re-watch it, I'm pretty sure he skips deftly around actually claiming to be God.

Its not that Edward doesn't believe a being of higher power doesn't exist, it's more-so he rejects the idea of a religious god. i.e. a benevolent being that has humanity's best interests.

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Shit writing.

It's out of spite.

Well the bigger problem is the world has reality bending magic and soul magic which is pretty much a hard science won't work correctly type setting.

the writing is pure cringe like until halfway through

He met actual in-universe god, why would he care about other religions

I think it more he is dillusioned with god and magic given what happened performing universally illegal magic and all which was reasonable (To be fair I'm pretty sure it was listed don't try this at home or bad times in the little material he found about human transmutation). Overall the end result was better for human interests as a whole the world was a better place after the story was complete.

yeah that's pretty much spot on

user, I'm God. You have to believe I'm God because I told you I am and God wouldn't lie.

An important distinction I think is that he's more of an anti-theist than an atheist -- i.e. he rejects God, but doesn't necessarily disbelieve God's existence.

Eh, alchemy is reality breaking so unlike the law of thermodyanmics which has to obey consistency and observations are immuntable with extremely powerful alchemy you could alter reality itself in ways that would violate all normal rules in their reality like the law of thermodyanmics which is super hyper violated with almost any form of alchemy. Alchemy is real magic not just tech magic as it can break in-universe physics very throughly.

I think also by the end of the journey he understood the truth/god much more than the villain ever will choosing a normal life instead of hyper magic ablities. (It was a nice balanced ending as magic is still in universe just not for the MC)

Yes that's a good point! He mellows in his antitheism in order to come to that more enlightened viewpoint you're pointing at.

Why can alchemy not just be a more fundamental law than any of the others apparently discovered so far?

This

His encounter with Truth wasn't of a benevolent deity that he would show devotion to and worship, but of a literal gate keeping prick who fucks people over for seeking the answers to their greatest griefs through alchemy. Keep in mind that Edward's character, at least in the beginning, is one that believe Alchemy holds the answer to EVERYTHING. Hence why he's looking for the apex of alchemical principle, the philosopher's stone, which circumvents the most important law of equivalent exchange.

Not only does he think Truth is a dickhead, but Truth is also a direct and hostile opposition to the furthering of his goals. He sees Truth as an enemy, an obstacle- not a God figure. Hence why at the end when Edward finally realizes that he can't find every answer in alchemy and chooses to sacrifice it to bring back what's most valuable to him, Truth actually praises him and invites him to "take it all."

>I could be wrong, but I don't think he actually does claim that he is God.
You are wrong.
>I am called by many names. I am The World (muda). I am The Universe. I am God. I am Truth. I am All. I am One. And I am also (You).

Classic dumb jojofag, he says that's what people call him, the only thing he actually claims to be is (You)

>You're wrong
>Here let me prove to you that you were right

"I am called by many names" doesn't mean that he actually IS all that, it just means people who met him think he is god.

If god's a prick then why worship?

If I met god and he took my limbs and mocked me I wouldn't shill him either.

Everything around that white being he met and the doors and all that is still based on science/alchemy. That's the difference between actual religions(like Ishval or in realworld Christianity) and god-like-beings you can actually research.

Depends on who you're asking