WHY RELIGION?

To be honest the real answer to that question has probably got some uniquely Disney creativeness behind it... but after I did some digging these are the ideas that seem most likely to me:

• Kids love Disney, parents love kids to learn good moral lessons, the Bible teaches good moral lessons, install Biblical lesson into kids movie, make millions. J. Wills presents this sort of idea in their work. Yes Claude Frollo lusts after a forbidden woman (not a great role model) BUT he is punished for his sin by falling into a fiery pit at the end. This is a main teaching in most Christian religions, that if you sin you will be punished.

• This movie very obviously implies the existence of God. There are songs that pray to God, lots of representations of divinities, and the idea that God and religion frown upon sins. The existence of this righteous God in the film would be looked at as a good thing by many Christians. 

• Its easier to teach kids good morals by sticking them in front of  TV rather than taking them to church/ Sunday school once a week. Is it the best method? Maybe not, that 's up for debate. My mom took me to church and Sunday school as a kid. I can guarantee you I would rather have watched a Disney movie and learned my morals that way, and I probably would have paid more attention. 

• Disney has a way of letting people read into the movie the way that they wish to. I found out when my Mom and I watched this together while I was building this site. When Esmeralda sings to the divine statue in the Cathedral, my mother pointed out that she is praying to Mary who cries for all the sinners/outcasts of the world. Nowhere is it mentioned that statue is Mary, but my Mom being a Catholic read into it this way. I am really non-religious and would have never said it was Mary. I thought it was really interesting to see how Disney leaves these things open ended enough for people to see what they want to see

• But won't the "dark" side of religion in this turn people away? For some yes; some people don't want their kids to see religion's darker parts (eg: sins of lust, the depiction of hell, witches practicing magic and burning at the stake) but that portion is small compared to the overall Disney happiness. Plus I think it can be interpreted as "if you sin bad things will happen", which is a message that most churches do want to relay to their people.