I constantly have thoughts moving through my head and something just popped
into my head. This pertains to a discussion that took place a few weeks ago,
I thought I might comment anyway. A few weeks ago John posted a message
complaining about the apparant lack of religion and morals in the Star Trek
Universe. John, you forgot one major premise of all religions, "Just because
you can't see it, that doesn't mean it's not there." Have a little faith.
If you want tangible evidence of their beliefs in religions, the best example
comes from one of the worst movies, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. In it,
Spock's half brother is attempting to cross "The Great Barrier" to find the
god of Shakari (a vulcan deity). Not only that, but when they finally cross
the great barrier, various aliens call the planet they find various names
from their religions... what does the human call it? "Eden". They didn't
call it "The Summerlands", "The Elisian Fields", etc., they called it "Eden",
so, not only are they not godless, but they adhere to Judeo-Christian
beliefs. Now an example from ST:TNG. In one episode, Picard is dying
because the artificial heart in his chest is failing due to being shot.
During his near death experience, he encounters Q who informs the captain
that he is dead. I forget how, but somehow, Picard gets the impression that
Q is trying to create the impression that they are in Heaven, and (because of
Q's powers) that Q is God. Picard immediately protests saying "You are not
God... I refuse to believe that you are God." Why would an athiest say such
things? A species as powerful as the Q would easily seam to an athiest to be
exactly that, a god, so why be so resistant to the notion, unless he had
preconcieved notions about God. Also notice that he did not say "You are not
*a* god." He said "You are not *God*." This shows that Picard believes in
mono-theism, and his belief in Heaven, again indicates a Judeo-Christian
religion. I have more examples, but not more time, and have already proved
my point, so I will move on.
John posed as evidence that they do not believe in religion, the fact that
they considered other religious cultures to be primative. Let me pose an
alternate theory to explain this. Before I do, allow me to ask you a
question John... I was born, raised, and confirmed Catholic, but I now follow
the ways of a pagan religion (Wicca). How does that make you feel? Most
Christians I know would think "You traitor", "You heathan", or at the very
least, "You poor, misguided fool." Be honest, was one of those (or something
of that ilk) the first thing that popped into your head? I submit that when
they treat other cultures with religions as primative, they do so out of
arrogance because those cultures do not believe in their religious beliefs.
They believe those other cultures to be "Poor, misguided fools."
Michael Harney
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
