TNG 's ( or maybe Picard's) belief that religion as a concept is wrong

Television, Movies Games and Books Star Trek
#1

I am not makeing a judgement on this as , I couldn’t care less about a religious discussion or religion so I am not offended or happy with the subject matter. I am just noticeing this for the first time. I didn’t think Star Trek had ever made a judgement call on religion. So If we discuss let’s try to stay away from judgeing the morality of this episode and simply discuss it’s meaning in trek.

In the Mintakan episode Picard states as a matter of fact his ( trek’s) beliefs on religion. I say Trek’s because Picard is the voice of “right” for this show, he isn’t the “cartman” of the show… he’s the morale compass.

When the anthropologist suggests that they curve the contaminaton by haveing Picard give them a set of rules that keep them from taking the contamination to their culture and becomeing negative. He wants to give them a set of “good” moral commandments.

Picard states that the Mintakan’s are rational because they have abandoned their beliefs in the “supernatural” (aka religion) . And is angry that the doctor is is suggesting they “Sabatoge this achievement [abandoning of religion] by returning them to the dark ages of superstition and ignorance and fear” and an angry “no!” [as in he won’t do it]

This is a huge contrast to Uhura realizeing in Bread and Circus’s ( an Kirk also being a bit happy aout it) that there was about to be Jesus on that planet and Kirk notes " How wonderful it would be to stay here and watch it all happen again". Bones also appears to have a religios comppass ( or at least is educated in it)

All an all… this was a pretty good episode.

#2

Don’t forget at the beginning of Khan, when Kirk shows Spock and Bones what Genisis was, Bones says " According to Myth, the Earth was created in six days, but hold on, here comes Genisis, we can do it for you in Six minutes!."

I believe that Star Trek, does take Religion to be supernatural. and that the Uhura, thing about the it not being “the sun up in the sky, but the son of God” is the anomaly.

I am also not trying to say weather I think they are right or not. but it has come up several times in the Trek universe.

#3

Well, Roddenberry was known as a staunch atheist, but I would imagine there are all sorts of religions across the Star Trek universe (see Bajorans). As to what most humans believe, I’d bet real money that it is also quite varied, but there are probably less fundamentalist whack jobs by that time.

#4

But the bajorans were handled as a matter of cannon that they were idiots for haveing their religion because their “gods” were told to for sure just be alien beings in the pilot for the show. They handle their religion as primitive from day 1! and also… other than Kera… every single character never recognizes their gods as anything other than wormhole aliens. There is even an episode where Kaiko teaches the established fact about the wormhole aliens and the Villian of the show states that “no those are gods” makeing it a fact that she is ignorant and that they are just powerful aliens.

#5

I don’t recall anyone ever calling them idiots. Most Federation citizens just didn’t believe the Prophets were gods. Besides, religion IS backwards and stupid. :wink:

#6

Actually Sisko towards the middle of the series adapted the Bajorans view.

But can you blame him? those Aliens took over some girls body just to give birth to him!

In different cultures god can be different things. God doesn’t have to be the creator of the world and life. God doesn’t have to be all knowing and powerful. That’s just one culture’s definition of it. To some cultures the sun is a god. Moon, wind, fire, anything can be a god. Just because you can explain the phenomenon with science, doesn’t make it less god.

And I think the Prophets, who doesn’t live in linear time, who can wipe out entire enemy fleets, who can see the future and change the past, is pretty much god, whether you call them aliens or not.

#7

How did they change the past?

#8

The only time I can remember is when they sent that fake Emissary poet a-hole back to his own time. Suddenly his poem was finished when before he showed up in the future it never had been.

#9

I would agree with you on that.

#10

Your prefered system of belief sucks. :rolleyes:

#11

I always figured that Uhura’s and Kirk’s comments were that they would like to be able to witness a major historical event in real time. Sure even the non-religious among us have to admit that Jesus’s life and the subsequent event movement constituted a huge movement and change with profound consequences for the world. And I could actually see that Uhura and Kirk would want to see what ‘Jesus’ was like, especially without the having to look through the lens of an organized religion.

#12

talking about systems. I feel if the religions on earth would just admit that they themselves are simply theories, instead of absolute fact, things would be a lot better on earth.

they can have like a dev team, and push out regular patches and updates to the religion.

you know, like an Operation System.

Every religion can try to be the MAC OS of the religion world.

And when a religion is easily hijacked by extremists, I say it’s time for patches and maybe get a anti-virus religion add-on or something.

#13

Something like, “Buddhism 2.1, now with fewer self-immolations?”

#14

Shoot, you’d burn out the metaphysical hard drive running that virus scan these days…

#15

a kinder, gentler and less carbon emission buddhism?

#16

or maybe we should upgrade to HUMAN 2.0 or at least HUMAN 1.0 service pack 1

#17

I am into the Devil Worship multi-media suite. Includes Ozzy Osbourne songs, Led Zepellin album covers, KISS comics ( printed in their own blood!!!), Bewitched re-reuns, the smurfs, Dungeons and Dragons cartoons, the 13 ghosts of Scooby Doo, and pics of the hottest orgy’s around!

#18

didn’t know smurfs was devil worship :stuck_out_tongue:

but that sounds like fun, as long as it doesn’t crash too often.

#19

Yeah this youth leader that showed us this “don’t rpg, watch 13 ghosts of scoobby doo, D&D, and smurfs” video.

I could care less… but there are sometimes pentagrams and stuff in papa smurf’s spell book and Gargamele’s. Plus this guy was saying that the inclusion of “sourcery” and ghosts in the cartoons made them Satanic or at least Non-christian. It always cracked me up to the max.

I was like… yeah that shit’s cool!

#20

as a Raven fan, i have 3 words to say to that youth leader… “Azarath Metrion Zinthos”