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Jesus & Christianity

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There's a scene in one of the novels (can't remember which one) where Picard says something to Q about "So you're not claiming to be God anymore, just saying that you knew Him?" And Q replies "He's a tough fellow to know, in the strictest sense..." in such a serious and matter-of-fact tone of voice that Picard starts to get chills.

Also there's an ENT episode (Cold Front?) where Phlox mentions attending Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and a VOY episode (don't know which, perhaps Barge of the Dead) where B'Elanna starts getting really into Klingon beliefs and Tom says something like, if you want to explore your spirituality, let's go to church...

And of course Sisko's dad was seen as a preacher in Far Beyond The Stars.
 
There's a scene in one of the novels (can't remember which one) where Picard says something to Q about "So you're not claiming to be God anymore, just saying that you knew Him?" And Q replies "He's a tough fellow to know, in the strictest sense..." in such a serious and matter-of-fact tone of voice that Picard starts to get chills.
I think its the Q&A novel, I read it this year, funny scene.
 
I've always wondered what happened to Lazarus after Jesus brought him back to life? Is there any mention of a decaying man in the Bible at all? Plus when Flint mentions he was Lazarus, hopefully he wasn't including the guy who was inspecting communication satellites as well? :lol:
JB
 
One reference that doesn't appear to be listed in either of these, is Voyager "The Killing Game, Part II":

KAPITAN: Yes. But the Kommandant is a fool. He doesn't understand. He's never embraced the Fuhrer or his vision. One does not cooperate with decadent forms of life. One hunts them down and eliminates them. The Kommandant speaks of civilisation. The ancient Romans were civilised. The Jews are civilised. But in all its moral decay, Rome fell to the spears of our ancestors, as the Jews are falling now. Look at our destiny. (the flag behind the bar) The field of red, the purity of German blood. The blazing white circle of the sun that sanctified that blood. No one can deny us, no power on Earth or beyond. Not the Christian Saviour, not the God of the Jews. We are driven by the very force that gives life to the universe itself. We must countermand the Kommandant's orders, stay and fight. We must be faithful to who we are.

http://www.chakoteya.net/Voyager/416.htm

The boldfaced seems like a very explicit reference to Jesus Christ, though not by name.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/World_War_II_holograms#Captain_001
 
And on the flip-side, disrespectful mentions of Christianity. We had a 'my God' from Kira in at least one episode ( The Forsaken ) which prompted my wife to shout "Which one! You have dozens!" and Dax was prone to a bit of Christian-based blasphemy too despite being Trill. Which indicated really lazy scriptwriting and reviewing.

I'm not religious myself but I don't like scripts using other people's deities casually, particularly when it's meant to be 400 years in the future.
 
We had a 'my God' from Kira in at least one episode ( The Forsaken ) which prompted my wife to shout "Which one! You have dozens!"

Well, hers - she said as much. That's pretty specific IMHO.

Dr. Mora Pol was more generic in "The Alternate", saying "Dear God". Although that, too, narrows down the choice.

Curiously enough, beyond these exclamations, we have no evidence that Bajorans would have gods at all. They have Prophets, which by the very definition clearly aren't the same; insisting otherwise would be like saying that Christianity has dozens of gods, including Prophets, Apostles, Shepherds and whatever other random groups or people happen to be named there. But there is no reference to other religious or supernatural entities for Bajorans, unless one steps outside the basic dogma and includes the Pa(g)h Wraiths.

That is, unless one invokes "Resurrection" where Kira tries to explain Bajoran faith to the Mirror Bareil and likens the Prophets to gods. But she's speaking across a cultural gap there, to an alien who seems to get everything wrong about the Bajoran lifestyle anyway.

I'm not religious myself but I don't like scripts using other people's deities casually, particularly when it's meant to be 400 years in the future.

Then again, that's what makes it all the more realistic. Nobody's gonna get offended by "By Jove!" nowadays...

Timo Saloniemi
 
It's also worth noting that not everybody who exclaims "Ohmigod" or "God help us" or "Good heavens!" or even "Jesus Christ!" is displaying a strong religious belief. Sometimes a common figure of speech is just a figure of speech and means nothing at all to the speaker. Even atheists routinely say "What in God's name are you talking about?" or whatever.

If I mutter "Goddamnit!" when I stub my toe or spill my copy, I'm not literally calling upon a supreme deity to condemn the offending object to eternal perdition. :)
 
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I'm not religious myself but I don't like scripts using other people's deities casually, particularly when it's meant to be 400 years in the future.
I understand that they are figures of speech but I tend to agree. I am religious but it is frustrating to me that phrases like those are considered so passe as to continue on.
 
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