Real-world religions on futuristic sci-fi
- Thread starter alpha_leonis
- Start date
I wouldn't think so. I've read nothing anywhere in the Bible that denies the existence of alien life. If I ever met such life, I'd view it as yet another part of God's creation.
Yep, that's the one.
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The Riverworld series, of course, showed all of humanity being resurrected. One of the early stories featured a thinly-disguised Jesus. He was more than a little dismayed at winding up in a totally different afterlife than expected.
And, of course, the fact that they had a chapel at all.
The Mote in God's Eye had a Muslim character.
Aw, you beat me to it. "St. Vidicon of Cathode, pray for us!"
They don't stone people as much as they used to. Also, some carry keys in their pocket on Saturday, others do not. Hell, some eat pork while others do not. Judaism has as many branches as any other religion.
Regarding Amazing Grace, since it's a unitarian hymn, it's designed to be pretty welcoming to anyone who wants to sing it.
Yeah, Riverworld mentions Jesus a few times. Apparently Jesus looks like Tom Mix.
The humans in BSG pray to the Greek gods. I mean, it's not modern religion but they're human beings practicing paganism.
Huh - I always wondered what the real story was there since it was so broadly hinted in the tv series. I thought it was probably something along those lines.
Still, OT, obviously Christianity is alive and well in the 500-years-from-now story of Firefly.
It is, and so are a few variations of Bhuddism and other eastern religions since Firefly is such a west/east fusion. From what I remember they were proper eastern/Asian religions in the background frequently.
The character himself may not be a good example but by proxy he does represent the existance of the faith in their universe.
One of the few taking place so far forward that had it play such an important role in the world building of the show as well.
Doesn't Tigh exclaim "Jesus!" in one episode?
Lol, I totally missed that.
It's been awhile since I watched it, but wouldn't you call Kira on DS9 to be religious i a layperson manner?
TerraNovan
Lieutenant Commander
I think its implied future religions will blend together.
As far as religious lay-people, I would say that the 'son of god' quote from (I think?) Bread and Circuses would be clear proof that Lt. Uhura was a christian of some kind. The fact that no one on the bridge said 'What the hell are you talking about?' also makes it clear that christianity is still large and publicly present enough for everyone there to understand her point.
I would think evangelical religions would pretty much have to try to expand beyond humans at some point. I mean - when the religion began, literally no one had any clue that there was such a thing as native americans, yet when Europeans first encountered native americans, often their first acts were attempts at religious conversion. Now sure, there'll be some sects within probably every church that will deeply resist that kind of change (there will be plenty who may even look at aliens as 'demonic' or some such thing), but once you get to a point where people can accept that different sentient species exist (and are really no different than us in terms of 'personhood'), then at least some of the churches would certainly start trying to convert the aliens, no?
I would think evangelical religions would pretty much have to try to expand beyond humans at some point. I mean - when the religion began, literally no one had any clue that there was such a thing as native americans, yet when Europeans first encountered native americans, often their first acts were attempts at religious conversion. Now sure, there'll be some sects within probably every church that will deeply resist that kind of change (there will be plenty who may even look at aliens as 'demonic' or some such thing), but once you get to a point where people can accept that different sentient species exist (and are really no different than us in terms of 'personhood'), then at least some of the churches would certainly start trying to convert the aliens, no?
Re Spock's funeral: Spock's mother was human and may have been Christian. Scotty is human and we've seen bits of dialogue that suggest he may be Christian. Most of the Enterprise crew would at least be familiar with Christianity, its rituals, and would want to honor Spock in some spiritual way.
And consider this: You don't have to be Christian to appreciate "Amazing Grace." I'm atheist, yet I find it to be one of the most powerfully moving pieces of music ever composed. I once sat in the audience at a symphony, and one of the pieces was "Amazing Grace" - played by a lone piper, under a single spotlight. By the end of the song, at least two-thirds of the audience were crying.
Of course some churches will try to convert the aliens. Some will succeed peacefully, some will end up converted to the aliens' religion, and in other cases, a fresh round of jihads and crusades will be unleashed. In other words, nothing will have changed.
Oh, I agree with all that as well. I'm pagan and I think Amazing Grace is a fantastic song. I just found the idea that 'non-humans' couldn't possibly be christian to be an odd position coming from a representative of what is an openly (and at times aggressively) evangelical religion.
TerraNovan
Lieutenant Commander
I think the problem is that westerners know religion as basing ones entire life based on a book written 2000 years ago.
Historically people had much broader interpretations of religion.
I think the overlap of religion and philosophy is pretty much a given when you have a highly educated population.
Historically people had much broader interpretations of religion.
I think the overlap of religion and philosophy is pretty much a given when you have a highly educated population.
Well, at least we know the Catholic Church would welcome aliens:
http://nypost.com/2014/05/13/pope-aliens-can-be-catholics-too/
http://nypost.com/2014/05/13/pope-aliens-can-be-catholics-too/
That's hilarious and consistent. This Pope stunned the conservative factions of the Catholic Church when he said about gay people, '.....who am I to judge.,' so it's consistent that he'd also welcome the aliens.
Speaking of the Catholic Church I always thought it survived in the Babylon 5 world?
If the Catholic church can survive the past 2000+ years, I'd imagine it will be around in a few hundred from now.
A little closer to home, there's this religious parallel drawn from a familiar text, that while offering a broad context for some interesting musings from an unexpected source, was given the kibosh as having too slim a real connective tissue by a few pretty devout Orthodox folk in my accquaintance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEWYOo5Ymu8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEWYOo5Ymu8
