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Do you...believe?

What Percentage of 24th century Earth is 'religious'?

  • 80% or higher.

    Votes: 3 6.8%
  • 60-70%

    Votes: 4 9.1%
  • maybe half

    Votes: 12 27.3%
  • 2 people out of 8

    Votes: 11 25.0%
  • are you serious? this is Roddenberry's universe..ZERO (only aliens can believe in anything)

    Votes: 14 31.8%

  • Total voters
    44
  • Poll closed .
They say something like 80% of our world's population, if not higher, believe in some sort of God or God(s). That is a lot of people. Is it to be assumed that once aliens (Vulcans) came that suddenly all of these belief systems just went away??? Obviously some of our Starfleet folks are shown to believe in something, Chakotay comes to mind. But what about the rest of humanity...what percentage of 24th "Star Trek" century Earth do you think believe in some kind of God or God(s)?

Rob
Scorpio
 
I don't believe humanity will become atheistic in the future, but it's an interesting what-if scenario and I've long wished Trek would really go for that angle and just be a lot more up-front about it.

I also don't believe that humanity will have a fetish against any sort of genetic engineering whatsoever, but that's another aspect of Trek I think makes for interesting story possibilities.
 
Are you asking about the Trekverse or our prediction of what will actually happen? Your question seems to imply the latter, but your last chose on the poll implies the former.
 
I cannot answer this poll, because it does not separate religion and spirituality. I suspect most organized religions will go by the wayside, but the search for higher levels of consciousness will continue.

Arthur Clarke once said that only Buddhism would survive the twentieth century. That and Taoism both count as religions that are non-theistic.
 
As long as science cannot explain every single thing that happens or has ever happened, there will be religion.
 
Regardless of whether we're talking Trek or IRL, human beings will be the same. The need to seek higher purpose and meaning is part of the human make-up. It's part of the same quest that drove Roddenberry's Trek into space to start with. It's the need to understand and to be part of whatever it is we're understanding.

Chuckling
 
Except that it is not. Plenty of people are Atheistic. If looking for a higher being was part of being human, there'd be none.
 
He said "higher purpose" and a great many atheists search for that. They simply don't need a god to do it.

And, OT, I believe that organized religions will diminish but spirituality will be with us for some time to come.
 
In the show we only really see the Starfleet perspective which is an organisation that doesn't need religion to function. Back on earth I expect there are plenty of traditionalists.

Whatever the truth about higher powers is, Religion is followed to serve needs. 5000 years ago people worshipped the gods who made the plants grow, because farming was such a crucial part of their existence. A failed crop one year would have caused widespread famine and death. We don't have that nowadays because we can source food from other parts, it just costs a little more to import.

Now maybe they were right, and there really are pagan gods, who are the only true gods. They must be feeling rather neglected nowadays.

When we feel confident and secure and adequately provided for by our own human effort, we feel less need for higher powers. It is only when we feel inadequate or frightened or unsure that we look to a relevant power for reassurance, and supportive influence.

Going by this, the 24th century seems to be a relatively clement and peaceful era, and I doubt that religion plays much of a role most of the time for most of the people. But when there were wars with extraterrestrials like the Klingons or the Romulans or the Borg, humanity may reform and reinterpret their religions as a reaction to those troubles. There may have been xenophobic tone in the sermons, talking about the horsemen of the apocalypse, or other evils coming from distant lands, or how those militaristic times were a call for jihad or equivalent.

It is easy to evoke the cultural interpretations when people feel needy. And like most traditions, religion offers a sense of belonging, and a sense of guidance.
 
Are you asking about the Trekverse or our prediction of what will actually happen? Your question seems to imply the latter, but your last chose on the poll implies the former.

Since this is General Trek Discussion, keep it with the Trekverse prediction. :)
 
Hopefully, less than 20%. I don't think that sort of thinking will disappear, but hopefully any hypothesized advancing culture will minimize backwards thinking.

RAMA
 
I would imagine that few humans are still religions or they don't believe in the soul in the same way that religious people do now, since the transporters essentally kill you, and we haven't seen anyone (that I can recall) refuse to use them on a religious basis.
 
I would imagine that few humans are still religions or they don't believe in the soul in the same way that religious people do now, since the transporters essentally kill you, and we haven't seen anyone (that I can recall) refuse to use them on a religious basis.

Me thinks you have a great idea for an episode!!!

Rob
Scorpio
 
I tend to think that many believe in God. There have been several episodes of the original series (I know that's 23rd Century) that have mentioned belief in God. However, I think that general spirituality (in Trek) has taken the front seat in preference to formal religion.
 
I voted for 60-70%. In the future after humanity has met all of those different alein species they have hundreds if not thousands of different religions that can speak to them if none of the Earth religions do. However, i also figure the far advancement of technology would shave off a quarter or so of the believers.
 
If by religion you mean beleif in a God, and the rituals that go with that, chances are it will be almost zero, given the historical trends in beleif and practice in relgiion are all in one direction, downward, practice is plummeting in most western countries, beleif however is more at a slow crawl and is still above 80% but remains going downward.
 
And isn't that a terrifying trend? As we drift further from the religious mindset the Arab world embraces it harder. I'm not saying religion is necessary-but we could reach a point where we no longer understand the mindset-an there in lies the danger. Somehow Trek's future dodged that bullet. I suspect education helped but there are still some very educated people in the world who turn themselves into human bombs for their beliefs, so who's to say if that really matters? I think the answers given that cover an increase in spirituality over organized religion hit closest to the Trek mark. Sadly, this is not the trend in our reality.
 
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