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Is Christmas still celebrated in the Federation?

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If I recall my early indoctrination into such matters, Christ died so that human souls would have eternal life in heaven. I was specifically told that animals are not included so I assume aliens are in the same boat unless they also had a saviour.

This is the exact reason why religion isn't part of Star Trek's 23rd/24th century society.

Bajor and one of the main premises for DS9 says hi!!!
 
"Amazing Grace" was played at Spock's funeral. Not Christmas-specific, but still Christian. (It made my ordained-Christian-minister wife laugh out loud when that scene came up -- very unlikely, she says, that a Vulcan would be Christian.)
 
The Federation being a multi-faith society, there are places on hundreds of world that still honour various rituals associated with that day...as noted by other comments up-thread re: assorted episodes.

I'm satisfied with that answer.
 
Christmas could still be celebrated, but it probably would not be a Federal type holiday, since I imagine something like the Federation would be secular by law.
 
Christmas could still be celebrated, but it probably would not be a Federal type holiday, since I imagine something like the Federation would be secular by law.
I could easily see the Federation not having any official holidays, leaving the matter of official holidays to the various Members on their worlds.

:)
 
Here's another, from TWOK:

Scotty: "The main energizer's bypassed like a Christmas tree, so don't give me too many bumps."


Then there was "Bread and Circuses", which we find out in the tag from Uhura, was really about Christ himself all along.
 
I like to think that, rather than being a secular society as is often theorized, the Federation is in fact truely multi-denominational. I like to think that rather than being a world where religion does not exist, Star Trek's future is a world where the differences between people's faiths (or even the lack of a specific faith) are celebrated as differences worth acceptance, rather than being something we all fight over. I like to think that even while serving on Starships, people are free to believe or not believe as their cultures dictate, and other people will not look down on each other for those differences in belief. I like to think that far from there being no chaplain aboard, there are multiple elders of various different faiths, human and alien alike. People in the Federation are likely free to have a religion, or they're free to be an atheist, and neither side belittles the other for what they think. That, I feel, is a Star Trek future. :)
 
I tend to think religion still exists but religious intolerance does not, and religious people no longer put literal interpretation of their texts before scientifically proven facts.
But will one species current set of scientific "proven facts" trump another species (or groups) "proven facts" on the same subject? One of Star Trek's themes is the on going acquisition of information. Long held scientific hypotheses on a wide number of subjects will be replaced in time, as the new information is discovered, and also as new interpretations of existing information are formed.

Many of Humanities current batch of "facts" will be tomorrow's historical amusements.


:)

It's true that things that are scientifically believed to be true are often proven wrong, but that's more in cases where a theory is based on an observed mathematical correlation, and less in cases where the conclusion is the result of a controlled study. So, we might find out theories about dark matter and dark energy are incorrect, but it's pretty unlikely to be disproven that the universe is billions of years old rather than six thousand and that species change over time.
 
We might find out theories about dark matter and dark energy are incorrect, but it's pretty unlikely to be disproven that the universe is billions of years old rather than six thousand and that species change over time.

You are being too kind calling these ultimate mysteries "theories", IMHO. Astrophysics has been trying to determine the properties of invisible ""dark"" matter since the early 1970's and after 40 years they still don't have an answer (and it's one of the subjects Professor Hawking wouldn't even touch with a bargepole). Unless determined what it actually is I rely on the Gospel according to Lucas: "It [the Force] holds the galaxy together". ;)

Bob
 
"Amazing Grace" was played at Spock's funeral. Not Christmas-specific, but still Christian. (It made my ordained-Christian-minister wife laugh out loud when that scene came up -- very unlikely, she says, that a Vulcan would be Christian.)
"Amazing Grace" is a powerful piece of music, no matter what your religious beliefs may be (or if you have none at all). I remember a concert I attended many years ago where one of the pieces performed was "Amazing Grace" - by a lone piper, on a darkened stage, with a simple spotlight. By the end of the song most of the audience was in tears, because it was so beautiful.
 
..., since I imagine something like the Federation would be secular by law.
I like to think that, rather than being a secular society as is often theorized, the Federation is in fact truely multi-denominational.
This is what I would like to think the federation is, instead of secular by law, it would be general policy for the federation to be open and accepting to multiple ideas and different ways.

Each of the federation's Members would bring their own societies and beliefs to the interstellar mix. Some of the societies and governments would be secular, others not so much. The representatives the worlds sent to the federation council would reflect their culture ways of doing things, philosphies, and methods of making decisions.

I like to think that far from there being no chaplain aboard, there are multiple elders of various different faiths, human and alien alike.
I do think certainly the larger ships would have a Starfleet chaplain aboard. But smaller ships might not, not full time anyway. If there were a group of crewmembers of a given faith, they could form into something like a congregation.

People in the Federation are likely free to have a religion, or they're free to be an atheist, and neither side belittles the other for what they think. That, I feel, is a Star Trek future. :)
Beautiful.

:)
 
People in the Federation are likely free to have a religion, or they're free to be an atheist, and neither side belittles the other for what they think. That, I feel, is a Star Trek future. :)
Beautiful.:)

And unrealistic. Merely feel good verbiage.

It's basic meme theory:
The memes that propagate better survive and multiply. The memes that do this less well die out.

Scientific/practical memes survive because they're useful. They can afford rationality/tolerance and survive/multiply just fine.

Religious memes survive because they are good at being indoctrinated and feared (that's why the Christian God/etc acts like a psychotic collector vis a vis his followers praying to other gods; all the stuff about fear God's punishment; etc). Not much room for rational thought/proof here. Any religion that doesn't do indoctrination - with all this implies - will soon die out, outcompeted by more militant religions.
 
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Most probably, Christian traditions, such as Christmas, will have been banned long ago due to their 'offensive' nature. In all likelihood, the only religion not outlawed by the 24th century will be Islam.
 
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