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The Matrix and ChristianityIs the Matrix a Christian Film?Exploring:Philosophy of Religion

Warning: This section contains spoilers for the Matrix: Reloaded. Read with caution.

Because Christianity is the predominant religious tradition in the United States, it is only natural thatChristian themes and interpretations of The Matrix will also be dominant in discussions about this filmseries. The presence of Christian ideas in the the Matrix films is simply undeniable, but does this allowus to conclude that The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded are Christian movies?

First, let's review some of the obvious Christian symbols that appear in the film. The main character,played by Keanu Reeves, is named Thomas Anderson: the first name Thomas may be an allusion to theDoubting Thomas of the gospels, while etymologically Anderson means "son of man," a title used byJesus in reference to himself.

Another character, Choi, says to him "Hallelujah. You're my savior, man. My own personal JesusChrist." A plate in Morpheus's ship Nebuchadnezzarbears the inscription "Mark III No. 11," a probableallusion to the Bible: Mark 3:11 reads, "Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before himand shouted, 'You are the Son of God!'"

Anderson's hacker alias Neo is an anagram for the One, a title which is used in the film to refer to KeanuReeves' character. He is The One who is prophesied to liberate humanity from the chains that imprisonthem in their computer-generated illusion. First, however, he has to die - and he is killed in room 303.But, after 72 seconds (analogous to 3 days), Neo rises again. Soon thereafter, he also ascends up intothe heavens. The first movie itself happened to be released on Easter weekend, 1999.

According to the Architect in The Matrix Reloaded, Neo isn't actually the first One; instead, he is reallythe sixth One. Numbers are not meaningless in these films and perhaps the first five are meant tosymbolize the Five Books of Moses of the Old Testament. Neo, representing the New Testament andNew Covenant of Christianity, is described by the Architect as differing from the first five because of hisability to love - and the concept ofagape, or brotherly love, is key in Christian theology. It seems, then,

that Neo's role as a sci-fi iteration of the Christian Messiah is rather secure.

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Or is it? Certainly some Christian authors argue so, but the parallels here are not nearly so strong asthey might appear at first glance. For Christians, the Messiah is a sinless unification of both divinity andhumanity who brings salvation to humans from their state of sin through his own freely chosen,sacrificial death; none of these attributes describe Keanu Reeve's Neo, even in a metaphorical sense.

Neo is not even vaguely sinless. Neo kills people left and right and isn't averse to a bit of extramaritalsex. We are offered no reasons to think that Neo is a union of the divine and the human; although hedevelops powers beyond what other humans have, there is nothing mystical about him. His powersderive from an ability to manipulate the programming of the Matrix, and he remains very much human.

Neo is not here to save anyone from sin, and his purpose has nothing to do with bridging the gapbetween us and God (not that God is even mentioned in the Matrix films). Instead, Neo arrives torelease us from ignorance and illusion. Certainly a release from illusion is consistent with Christianity,but it does not constitute a metaphor for Christian salvation. Moreover, the idea that our reality is illusoryis inconsistent with Christian beliefs in an omnipotent and truthful God.

Nor does Neo save humanity through a sacrificial death. Although he dies, it is by accident rather thanby free choice, and his means of salvation involves a great deal of violence - including the deaths ofmany innocent people. Neo loves, but he loves Trinity; he hasn't exhibited an overarching love forhumanity as a whole, and certainly not for the human minds he kills time and time again.

Christian references go far beyond the character of Neo, of course. The last human city is Zion, areference to Jerusalem - a city holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Neo falls in love with Trinity, areference to the Trinity of Christianity. Neo is betrayed by Cypher, someone who prefers hedonisticillusions where he has power over the drab reality he was awakened to.

Even these, however, are not exclusively Christian themes or allegories. Some may see them as suchbecause of their obvious relations to Christian stories, but that would a rather narrow reading; it wouldbe more accurate to say that Christianity makes use of many stories and ideas which have been part ofhuman culture for millennia. These ideas are a part of our human heritage, cultural as well asphilosophical, and the Matrix taps into this heritage in culturally and religiously specific ways, but weshould not let that distract us from the core messages which reach well beyond any one religion,including Christianity.

In short, The Matrix and its sequels make use of Christianity, but they are not Christian films. Perhapsthey are poor reflections of Christian doctrine, rendering Christianity in a superficial manner that isamenable to American pop culture but which requires sacrificing depth for the sake of peopleaccustomed to sound bites over serious theological contemplation. Or, perhaps, they aren't meant to beChristian films in the first place; instead, they may be meant to be about important issues which are alsoexplored within Christianity.