RELIGION VS SCIENCE
SCIENCE
In the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood series, science has taken shape in the form of alchemy. This is done through a fusion of scientific and magical properties based on one principle, the Law of Equivalent Exchange. In scientific terms, this relates to the conservation of energy, a principle that states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but is transformed into something else. As well in order for a human to practice alchemy, knowing the Law of Equivalent Exchange is not enough but a transmutation circle is also required to focus and dictate the flow of power being drawn from the alchemist. In the FMAB series, it is shown that used positively, the science of alchemy can help the people of Amestris thrive. However, more often than not, the use of this scientific power is used for sinister and selfish purposes.
The first instance of this is shown as a flashback to the Ishvalan civil war prior to the events of FMAB. Father, needing a massive blood sacrifice to finish his nationwide transmutation circle, orders an incident involving the death of an Ishvalan child at the hands of Envy, who is disguised as an Amestris soldier, to spark a civil war. When this comes to fruition, Wrath, who is disguised as King Bradley head of state, orders the deployment of state alchemists to quell the rebellion. The result is the near complete eradication of the Ishvalan race as state alchemists harnessed the literal powers of nature of science to dismantle the insurrection. Not only did the misuse of the scientific gift of alchemy cause a genocidal incident but it causes psychological scars in both the alchemists, some of whom suffer post traumatic stress disorder symptoms from the fighting, and the Ishvalan survivors, in particular the character Scar who goes on a wrathful rampage killing state alchemists during the events of FMAB in the name of retribution of his God.
Edward creating a spear though alchemy
The murder of an Ishvalan child
Effects of the war
Scar, a survivor
Shou Tucker
His daughter and dog
The creature created by their fusion
A second instance of the dangers of pursuing science above all else is the case of the bio alchemist Shou Tucker. Shou appears in the beginning of Edward and Alphone’s journey in FMAB as a person who might know how to get their bodies back due to his previous work in creating a speaking chimera which earned his position as a state alchemist. As Ed and Al begin pouring over Shou’s research, he points out that at best his field of work is experimental and has yet to create a second speaking chimera again since his first creation two years ago. Shou also notes that if he does not produce results within the next state alchemist assessment he is viable to lose his position and research privileges. Thus when Shou reveals later to Ed and Al that he finally manages to create another speaking chimera, Ed realizes then that Shou did not bypass the impediments of creating artificial life but rather the merging of a live human with an animal. In his newest creation, Shou had merged his daughter with the family dog and previously had used his wife who was claimed by Shou to have disappeared around the time he produced his first horrifying creation. In this example, we see how dwelling too far into the powers of science has corrupted a person simply to keep their comfy position in life.
The last and most taboo example of the negative side of science is the practice of human transmutation. This is a dark practice that alchemists attempt to do in resurrecting the dead, specifically loved ones in FMAB, but always ends in catastrophic failure for the practitioner. The most notable case of human transmutation shown in FMAB, is the protagonists Edward and Alphonse Elric attempt to resurrect the dead mother who recently passed from a deadly flu. The consequences of their actions cost Alphonse to lose his entire body while Edward lost his left leg and right arm. As dictated by the previously mentioned Law of Equivalent Exchange, they had indeed created something out of the transmutation circle, but it was not at all the mother they had attempted to resurrect. This last example shows the ultimate sin of alchemic science practiced in FMAB. In essence any alchemist who attempts human transmutation, no matter the reason, is playing God with human lives and is always punished by the universe as human souls are deemed priceless according to the flow of the universe thus do not work in the equation of the Law of Equivalent Exchange.
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Edward loses his limbs and Alphonse lose his body as a consequence of human transmutation
The results of their failed attempt at brining back their dead Mother
RELIGION
The first episode of the series opens up with a situation which questions the place of religion in a scientific society. The Elric brothers have traveled to an isolated city in search of a religious leader called Cornello who is said to perform god-like miracles and even supposedly bring the dead back to life. Cornello is worshiped in the city, as he convinced the people with these feets that he is the prophet of the sun god Leto. However as Ed and Al soon realize, these miracles are nothing but basic products of alchemy. As the Elric brothers make their way to the Church of Leto to confront Cornello, they run into a devotee named Rose who is so enthralled that she believes Cornello can bring back her dead husband. Edward, being a person of scientific principles and having failed to bring back his dead mother using science, breates Rose for her beliefs and that Cornello is a fraud. Rose counters in a familiar argument regarding faith, that simply because science cannot prove it does not deny the existence of an omnipotent creator. Edward is right however, as the viewer soon discovers with the battle and defeat of Cornello, that the false prophet was using alchemy to trick the city into being his devoted zealots so he could take over the country. This event in FMAB, shows an unfortunate dark side of religious intentions.
From Edward's point of view, we see Cornello and by extension organized religion, as a massive deception to the uninformed and uneducated populace. Through that deception again, we see that logic and reason falls on deaf ears as people will blindly follow supposed miracles that give them false hope. Even if it means violence against their neighbors, which leads us to the second example of religion being used for a dark purpose, that of character Scar and his religious war against the state alchemists of Amestris. Scar is an Ishvalan, a race of religious people who reject alchemy as they believe it is an affront to their god who is the creator of all things and that alchemy perverts his creations. As previously stated, a civil war was started by the antagonists of the series that began the events of a genocide of the Ishvalen race and culture primarily at the hands of the state alchemists. Scar would be one of the very few Ishvalan survivors and uses his religious beliefs as an excuse to brutally murder state alchemists in a quest for revenge for his slain people. With this example, we see a commentary on the often contradictory nature of religious based terrorism. Murder is typically not condoned in most religions, yet some would hide behind a religious cause an excuse to break such creeds.
Church of Leto
Cornello, the false prophet
Ishvalans
