Star Trek - The Pop Culture Posterboy of Atheism

[Astron1000]

Yes, Q, my favorite alien! I'm also reminded of the Next Generation episode "Devil's Due." In it, a seemingly omnipotent being named Ardra terrorizes a planet, claiming that she is the returning devil the inhabitants had made a pact with a thousand years before. She even claims to be both the Human's Christian devil and the Klingon counterpart and changes form before everyone's eyes to prove her case. She can cause earthquakes on demand and can outmaneuver the actions of the Enterprise's crew.

Later it is revealed that she is simply using hidden technology & holographic trickery and is in fact a wanted con artist.

[Astron1000]

Originally Posted by AREQUIPA

By and large star -trek was set in an ethos where church and state were very well separated and people were left to behave (as Jim Kirk said at a shipboard wedding and with as much embarrassment as if he were marrying two of the same sex -which of course never happened in a 60s TV series or even in the Next generation) 'in accordance with our many beliefs'.

...

Interestingly, there is a surprisingly well-done fan-based movie (90 minutes long!) that, at its core, revolves around a gay relationship. And it happens to be Captain Kirk's nephew and his partner. It's called "Star Trek - Blood and Fire." And indeed, Kirk does perform the wedding ceremony!

[nana053]

Your link doesn't work

Try this one:
Star Trek-Blood and Fire (Pt-1of 11) Gay episode. - YouTube

[AREQUIPA]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

Interestingly, there is a surprisingly well-done fan-based movie (90 minutes long!) that, at its core, revolves around a gay relationship. And it happens to be Captain Kirk's nephew and his partner. It's called "Star Trek - Blood and Fire." And indeed, Kirk does perform the wedding ceremony!

Thanks. I missed that one. I revise my views accordingly.

[QuixoticHobbit]

Originally Posted by AREQUIPA

I think I recall that. yes, it does sound as though the script was a reasonable 'Gods from outer space' scenario - rather like 'Stargate', but that was with the Egyptian pantheon - and the writer was referring to the belief in the One True God as all humanity needed. I would have written 'We only just got shot of the last one -we certainly don't need a whole new batch.' but I wasn't on the scriptwriter payroll.

Actually in the Stargate TV series, they discover that pretty much ALL the gods of Earth were/are in fact aliens that visiting the planet in the past. They had aliens representing Japanese, Chinese, Norse, Celtic and other gods, but of course never featured an alien named Yahweh or Jesus...

[Astron1000]

Ah, thanks Nana053! I don't know why my link isn't working...

Anyhow, this video is a pretty good example of how Star Trek has undermined the status quo. Like I said before, I haven't been a huge fan of Star Trek before this. But I have to say that I really appreciate how the show has represented an "alternative" view of a future world. One that represents an inclusive society that apparently is fairly free from religious ideology.

[QuixoticHobbit]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

Ah, thanks Nana053! I don't know why my link isn't working...

Anyhow, this video is a pretty good example of how Star Trek has undermined the status quo. Like I said before, I haven't been a huge fan of Star Trek before this. But I have to say that I really appreciate how the show has represented an "alternative" view of a future world. One that represents an inclusive society that apparently is fairly free from religious ideology.

Yes I totally agree. It would be interesting to see a future where religion continued to hold sway and even tightened its grip on humanity...

I vaguely remember a sci-fi RPG or novel from WAYYY back that was set in a future where the Catholic church (or something similar) controlled the Terran/Earth Empire, armed with huge warships kinda like the Empire in Star Wars but with the Pope being the evil emperor..

[Chango]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

I've never seen this discussed or even mentioned in these forums, so I thought I'd throw it out there for opinions and commentary...

It's well-known that Gene Roddenberry conceived of Star Trek to be an allegory of the triumph of reason over superstition. He himself was a secular humanist (and at the least an agnostic, though many accounts have him as an atheist) and directed the writers of the many Trek series to create episodes that demonstrated the irrationality of a belief in anything supernatural.

Brannon Braga, one of the biggest names in the Star Trek franchise, gave a speech at the 2006 International Atheist Conference outlining Roddenberry's ideal of a future world in which "human beings find solutions to conflict through enlightenment and reason."

Roddenberry's universe does not seek to eliminate people's desire to worship as they wish (allowing them their free will to believe whatever their traditions dictate), but firmly establishes the ideal that rationalism is the basis of moral advancement.While I'm not a fanatic about Star Trek, I've found the fundamental moral views exhibited in Star Trek to be a refreshing change of pace from the typical TV shows and Movies in pop culture that rely upon traditional Judeo-Christian morality. Is Star Trek one of the most subversive (to religion) pop-culture creations?

Thoughts, anyone?

And then some crazy writer had to come up with the Q and foul everything up!

[BP72]

Picard nails it


Jean Luc Picard talks about religion - YouTube

[Astron1000]

I've also noticed that the wonderful new Dr. Who on BBC is quite atheistic in the sense that it always tends toward a rational explanation of seemingly miraculous events. And yet it still keeps the door open to mysteries.