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Religion in Star Trek
or "May The Great Bird of the Galaxy Bless Your Planet"
Is Star Trek militantly atheist? Certainly Gene Roddenberry
intended it to be so. Roddenberry himself was an atheist and a socialist
(neither of which prevented him from vigorously enforcing his intellectual
property rights – perhaps we could add hypocrite to the list as well). In the
writer’s bible for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Roddenberry insisted that no
currently existent religion was practiced in the 24th century and all
humans were atheists and the world was a better place for it. Positive religious
themes were not part of Roddenberry’s universe.
Of course, Roddenberry also insisted his Federation had a
socialist economy and that Starfleet was not a military organization but the
established canon demonstrates otherwise (see
Trekonomics). It is likewise true that despite Roddenberry’s ardent
desire to the contrary, the Trek universe is not all that atheist either – at
least not according to the final filmed product.
Proof of Star Trek’s atheism is brought from the lack of
overt Christian images (at least in the ‘Next Generation’ series). However, a
society can be deeply religious without being Christian. Tibet, India, and Saudi
Arabia are all religious societies but aren’t Christian. Of course, they are far
from the cutting edge of technological development but Israel and the United
States are also fairly religious societies and both are, in fact, on the cutting
edge of technological development. While religion plays a far greater policy
role among the Bajorans and Klingons than in the Federation, plenty of vibrant
religious cultures exist within the Federation, including Vulcan. We aren't
beaten over the head with religiosity in Star Trek, but then again, even very
devout people go about their work lives without preaching every 5 minutes. Even
so, Dr. McCoy was very willing to weigh in on the moral aspects of the issues at
hand; indeed, one gets the feeling the Good Doctor was an old fashioned Southern
Baptist. Chekhov, being the Russian super-patriot that he is, is almost
certainly a Russian Orthodox Christian. Kirk expresses a desire to ‘see it
happen again’ at the end of the Classic episode ‘Bread and Circuses’ with
regards to the spread of Christianity – implying he himself is a Christian.
Uhura comments how, in the same episode, a Roman pundit tried to ridicule
Christianity but found he couldn’t and she referred to Jesus as the son of G-d.
Implying she was also a Christian. Spock obviously takes Vulcan religion
seriously (and Leonard Nimoy, an observant Jew, consciously based Vulcan
religion on Chasidic Judaism). Of all the classic Trek characters, only Scotty
was identified as an atheist (in ‘Who Mourns for Adonis’). While we haven’t seen
any particularly overt Jewish or Muslim characters in Star Trek, one does get
the feeling Worf’s adoptive parents were Jewish (given their last name and the
fact that Worf’s father was played by Theodore Bikel – an observant Jewish actor
most famous for playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof). The fact that a chapel
exists on the U.S.S. Enterprise is itself interesting because on most modern
U.S. naval vessels, devout sailors have to make do with a ‘chaplain’s box’ in
the ward room.
Additionally, the Federation is generally an optimistic,
pluralistic and open society. Ethnic and religious differences clearly still
exist. Scotty and Chekhov's good-natured nationalism, Uhura’s use of Swahili as
her mother tongue, Kirk and Uhura’s expressions of Christian faith all suggest
the Federation is anything but an overbearing atheist mono-culture.
Historically, whenever a state has tried to repress religious faith, either in
the general (such as the PRC and USSR) or against specific religions (Nazi
Germany or Saudi Arabia) the result has uniformly been tyrannical coupled with a
general sense of pessimism and fatalism. It is obvious that the Federation is
not a tyranny, and it is not pessimistic or fatalistic. This implies it is not
atheistic (I know some atheists will object, but historically speaking, atheism has not
been conducive to optimism) but just as clearly it also doesn’t impose any
religion on its citizens but rather tolerates all religion – including
atheism – so freedom of conscience must be the order of the day in the
Federation.
Proof of the continued practice of religion in the 23rd-24th
centuries is easy enough to find in the canon. While Classic Trek was far more
willing to bring up religious themes than the ‘Next Generation’, official
indifference towards religion is hardly the same as hostility. Were the
Federation officially atheist, we’d expect to see more overt (and covert)
attempts to ferret out and suppress religious observance. However, in one
episode, Lt. Cmdr. Data points out that a certain day was, among other things,
the start of Dawali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. This clearly contradicts
Roddenberry’s insistence that all currently practiced religions are dead
letters. Why would the Enterprise computer take note of the start of Dawali if
there were no practicing Hindu crewmen on board? Picard spends a Christmas with
his family in France, and while he personally whines about his own atheism, his
viewpoint doesn’t seem to be shared by his brother or his family. The mere fact
that Christmas continues to be celebrated implies the continued existence of
Christianity. This can be inferred from the fact that in the USSR, New Years Day
replaced Christmas as the primary holiday owing to official atheism; were the
UFP as atheist as Roddenberry wanted it to be a similar state of affairs would
have existed. Similarly, it can be inferred that Judaism and Islam also continue
to exist. The Rozhenkos were apparently Jewish and Dr. Bashir was apparently
Muslim, and while neither was particularly aggressive about their respective
religions the fact remains that these religious cultures continued to exist.
Of course, religion can exist independent of the existence
of any god or deity. That the classical pagans worshipped the Olympians is
beyond dispute, but no one today believes the Olympians actually existed
(though, interestingly enough, Star Trek posits they did, albeit as space-faring
super-beings). However, in the Classic Trek episode ‘The Companion’, Captain
Kirk asks the Companion if she can create life. She responds, “No, that is for
the Maker of All Things” (i.e. G-d).
In the Classic episode ‘Bread and Circuses’, Uhura says the
Roman pundits could not ridicule monotheism in general or Christianity in
particular. Neither she nor Captain Kirk seemed particularly shocked. In ‘Who
Mourns for Apollo?’, Kirk tells Apollo that mankind doesn’t believe in the gods,
we find the One quite sufficient. That’s not the reply of an atheist; it is the
reply of a monotheist. An avowed atheist like Picard would have replied with
some platitude like ‘We have no gods, we have evolved beyond the need for such
things’. The established existence of the Vulcan Katra or the Bajoran
Pagh seems to affirm there is such a thing as a soul. There is plenty of
evidence in the Trek canon that not only does religion continue to exist but
that G-d and the soul exist as well.
Religion isn’t a phenomenon restricted to humanity, either.
Several episodes in both the Classic Trek and the Trek movies feature Vulcan
religion. We have seen glimpses of various religions within the Federation and
the power of religious societies outside it such as the Klingon Empire and its
devotion to the faith of Kahless the Unforgettable and how the faith of the
Bajoran people in their Prophets saw them through the brutal Cardassian
occupation. Even Picard isn’t so convinced of his atheism, insisting in a
quieter moment that this life can’t be all there is – while at the same time
insisting it is impossible to know what lies beyond death. That’s classical
agnosticism, not atheism.
If anything, Star Trek seems to imply that while many different religious
opinions are held by people in the 23rd-24th centuries,
humans have learned to tolerate those differences and perhaps live more in
accordance with their religious beliefs rather than seeing them as excuses to
commit atrocities on one another.
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