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In [[SEL]], God is defined most loosely as an omnipresent being who has at least one follower, much like [[Eiri]] when he is claiming to be God of the Wired, and most narrowly as an omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient being, much like [[Lain]] at the end of the [[anime]].
In [[SEL]], God is defined most loosely as an omnipresent being who has at least one follower, much like [[Eiri]] when he is claiming to be God of the [[Wired]], and most narrowly as an omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient being, much like [[Lain]] at the end of the [[anime]].
On the [[Visual Experiments Lain]] page on [[Layer 04]] Religion, Lain is interviewed. The relevant portion of the interview, beginning with Lain's mention of God, is reproduced below:
[...God.]
--What god?
[The God of Wired.]
--There's a God of Wired? You believe that?
[(silence)]
--Answer me.
[...There is if I believe there is...]
--That answer isn't good enough.
[...There is...a God...]
--All right, fine. The God of Wired is the god of the top level of the [[real world]] hierarchy--in other words,
a being that controls the entire world. Is that right?
[...Who are you?]
The interviewer is suggested to be Eiri in disguise, speaking to Lain by a means similar to that seen in [[Layer 05]], in which he uses a holographic image of a doll, Lain's mother [[Miho]] and Lain's father [[Yasuo]] to speak to and influence Lain.
Lain's statement "There is if I believe there is" can be seen not as a means of avoiding the question but as a reflection of the state of affairs later, in [[Layer 10]]. All the [[Knights]], Eiri's followers, commit suicide and Lain claims that Eiri is no longer God because he has no remaining followers. However, Eiri responds that there is one believer left, so he can remain God. That believer is Lain. This way, whether or not Eiri is God of the Wired truly depends on whether Lain believes in him or not.
[[Category:Themes]]
[[Category:Themes]]
