I'm of the Next Generation generation. I had never seen The Original Series when Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered. My television watching in the 90's consisted largely of Star Trek and reruns of M*A*S*H.
With the Star Trek Universe, Gene Roddenberry gave us a look at what we could do after we finally outgrow religion. And he did so without even raising the ire of those who freak out at even the slightest criticism of religion/Christianity. Not even when they took a direct shot at the danger religion poses to society.
I think how it treated religion was a big part of why Star Trek appealed to me so much. For them, religion was a thing of the past. All religion was to them like the Greek's gods are to us now. Even when they found worlds who had gods, there was actual evidence of those gods. They had characters that could easily be mistaken for gods who were, for the most part, never actually treated like gods.
And when they found something claiming to be a god, they still challenged them, giving us one of the best lines in cinema, as well as one of my favorite things to say to people quoting the Bible as proof of their god claims.
The Earth of Star Trek was a world beyond war, crime, hate, poverty, etc. It was a world without religion. It's one of the best examples of "Good Without God" I've seen.
It may have been a fictional utopian world, but it's still a goal worth striving for. We may not get there, but as long as we are fighting over who's myth is better and willfully holding back societal and technological progress, it's not even a possibility.
With the Star Trek Universe, Gene Roddenberry gave us a look at what we could do after we finally outgrow religion. And he did so without even raising the ire of those who freak out at even the slightest criticism of religion/Christianity. Not even when they took a direct shot at the danger religion poses to society.
I think how it treated religion was a big part of why Star Trek appealed to me so much. For them, religion was a thing of the past. All religion was to them like the Greek's gods are to us now. Even when they found worlds who had gods, there was actual evidence of those gods. They had characters that could easily be mistaken for gods who were, for the most part, never actually treated like gods.
And when they found something claiming to be a god, they still challenged them, giving us one of the best lines in cinema, as well as one of my favorite things to say to people quoting the Bible as proof of their god claims.
The Earth of Star Trek was a world beyond war, crime, hate, poverty, etc. It was a world without religion. It's one of the best examples of "Good Without God" I've seen.
It may have been a fictional utopian world, but it's still a goal worth striving for. We may not get there, but as long as we are fighting over who's myth is better and willfully holding back societal and technological progress, it's not even a possibility.
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