Growing up in a Religious Star Trek family, My take on Star Trek and Religion was that religious practices and traditions must always be evaluated in their purpose and each religion might hold a aspect of ultimate truth: the nature of existence. My favorite Picard quote about God was when he meets Q in the afterlife. Picard: "No, i am not dead because i refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by you. The Universe is not so badly designed!" that was up there with what dose God need with a Starship for me growing up.

Star Trek V has THE quintessential McCoy moment as well. When the "God" being attacks Kirk and Spock, the being then asks McCoy if he doubts him. McCoy's brave reply is, "I doubt any God that inflicts pain for his own pleasure." That blew my little western religion-inculcated mind when I was a kid!

"The Prophets sent him back to his own time" is just what Sisko told everyone. Really Sisko just took the dude into space and pushed him out the airlock.

"What does God need with a starship?" is definitely a quintessential Kirk line. But for my money, Kirk's rebuff of Sybok in the same film, culminating in "I need my pain!" is probably the Kirkiest Kirk we ever get...and in my opinion is worth all of the silliness through the rest of the film.

I'm a full-fledged Christian and I veiw organized religion, especially my own with a strong sense of suspension. There is no easier way to control a group of people than to control their faith. As I come from Harlan County I learned that lesson well.

My favorite Trek commentary on religion comes from Enterprise. In the three episode arc where T'Pol and Archer go to Vulcan to find T'Pau, she tells Archer how Surak's teachings were misinterpreted and manipulated by those in power to keep the population in check. He smirks, and T'Pol accuses him of making making light of the subject. He simply says "It sounds familiar". Great episode, Steve!

Kira: "No, listen to me. I know, to Starfleet, the Prophets are nothing more than wormhole aliens. But to me, they're gods. I can't prove it. Then again, I don't have to; because my faith in them is enough - just as Weyoun's faith in you... was enough for him." one of the best lines about Religion and faith and how it should be personal

I know VOY gets little love round these parts, but I was still hoping for mention of "Mortal Coil," in which Neelix gets killed proper by a power surge, only to be "repaired" by Seven's nanothingys. Neelix reports that, while dead, he felt nothing, where his cultural background had assured him of a specifically-described afterlife, and his entire worldview collapses. The final scene is unexpectedly lovely and moving.

"I don't object to the concept of a deity but I'm puzzled by one who takes attendance." -- Amy Farrah Fowler

The line “What does God need with a starship?” Was the only thing good to come out of that movie.

I always found it interesting that the Bajorans just accepted Sisko's explanation of what happened in the wormhole at the end of Accession. "Yep. The prophets said I'm the emissary and they sent that other dude back to his own time. I totally didn't just beam him out mid-transit. Two emissaries enter the wormhole! One emissary leaves! Who rules Bartertown? Probably the Ferengi. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, I'm the Emissary again. kthxbai."

One episode you didn't look at was Voyager's "Blink of an Eye", which says quite a bit about religion. It is complementary to "Who watches the watchers", because it lets play out the development of an entire civilization based on worshiping the starship Voyager as a goddess. In the end, that turns out to have lots of positive effects on that civilization. So, kind of an interesting spin on the concept.

I really enjoyed your commentary. As a religious person myself, I believe that nuance conversations over religious beliefs are incredibly important especially today. I get annoyed with people who sum up religion as all good, or all bad. Also, my sister is currently attending a seminary, and is taking a course examining Science Fiction and religion. Her class dedicated a whole unit to Star Trek’s commentary on religion. I’ll be sharing this video with her. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it! Awesome video!

I remember a big fight I watched in a major Brazilian Trek forum a long time, a guy just asked "what do you people think about the episode" Who Mourns for Adonais"? ". People started sharing their thoughts just to get really rude responses by the author of the post saying that any kind of religious representation is bad, Star Trek need to be anti religion because religion kills people so a episode showing Greek gods is wrong to exist. So people asked his opinion on the fact that DS9 could not exists without the religious element, and his response was something like "the Bajorians are aliens so their religion isn't really related to the bad bad human religion so they're OK" I really think the guy just needed a hug...

I like DS9's exploration of religion in its good and bad aspects, like every other facet of life. And I like Pike's private religiosity in Discovery. e: thought of something I wanted to mention. Weyoun and Wynn meet at one point and he's trying the Vorta charm offensive. He says, "I think we're very much alike" and she does the eargrab thing and then says "'No. No, we're nothing alike" and leaves him kind of baffled. She's trying to insult him but - she's right. Because his religious beliefs - imposed, artificial, brutally constricting and oppressive - are at least *sincere*. He places his gods above himself. She'd never do the same.

i just realized that "who watches the watchers" is basically a dramatization of aspects of the ancient aliens theory

Q is like that uncle who hands out home made fireworks just because kids should have fun.

There's a great little thread that runs through Year Of Hell that I think is the CLOSEST thing we get to confirmation that some kind of deity exists in Star Trek. And... now I think about it more... it kind of explains some inconsistencies the franchise has with time travel. So, Annorax believed that "Time" is an actual entity, and that for his constant messing around with the timeline, he was being punished. Sounds like the ramblings of a madman. BUUUUT... at the end of the episode, when his ship is exploding, he gets to his ready room just in time (lol) to see the only thing he has left of his wife, a lock of hair, disappear forever. If Time could give someone the finger, that's about how I'd expect it to do it. However, at the end, when Time has been reset, things don't play out the same way as before. Instead of building his timeship, he puts down his research and spends the day with his wife instead. Crisis averted. Happy ending. Tea and cake for all. Time literally gives him a second chance at happiness. If you think just about EVERY time travel story in Star Trek ends either in a complete reset (The Visitor) or in some specific chain of events that have very little impact (Gabriel Bell looking suspiciously like Starfleet's best captain, or that the Romulan in charge of the Klingon civil war happened to be the daughter of Tasha Yar) and the stories that DO have lingering impact spin off a whole new timeline (Kelvin) then it kind of seems like Time has some idea of what it wants to happen and is perfectly happy to steer events along its Divine Plan. Did that make any sense or am I just rambling?

Roddenberry's concept of God was played by John De Lancie.

On this subject, a classic Picard episode where healthy skepticism helps everyone arrive at the truth was in "Devil's Due". Picard's best line in that episode being, "You mean to tell me Ardra never even picked up one piece of trash?" A photoshopped version of his hand gesture at that moment then became a profanity-laced meme.

I don't think religion will ever truly disappear from humanity, and I say this as an atheist. Religion "scratches an itch" that the vast majority of people have, this need to have *some* kind of explanation for the unknown and mysterious, and a promise of eventual vindication and a reward for those whose lives involve endless, unjust suffering. Nothing else really fills that hole.

“You are not God! The universe is not so poorly designed!”

I remember being really impressed by the way Picard spoke about his own belief in the afterlife as a basically agnostic one, but it was clear that his belief was informed by his personal feelings about it.

I'm not sure this was a "religious" experience, but the other night the sky was exceptionally clear and I could see the Andromeda galaxy with a pair of binoculars. A quick google showed that the light I was seeing from this galaxy probably left there when the earliest ancestor of humanity which bears even some similarity to us was first emerging. It was amazing to get a glimpse of light which was about 2.5 million years old.

Always remember a Farscape quote "Religions are grand lofty ideas, religious followers, that's something else."

The holographic duck blind failing in "Who Watches the Watchers" is also a criticism of our over-reliance on advanced tech, when simpler methods would be more reliable. You can see one recent example of this in Tesla car doors that potentially lock passengers in a wrecked vehicle, since everything in a Tesla is electronically controlled, with no manual backup.

I've always loved how Star Trek tends to approach religion from a rational place, never actually being openly against religion itself but definitely against the more fanatical side of it.

Your dialogue is so fun.

One of the things I thought was kind of interesting when it came to the Ferengi belief/religion was that episode where Nog was trying to explain to O'Brien about the Great Material Continuum and how in order to get what you want you sometimes have to make a various trades and deals while trusting in it to lead you to what you are eventually looking for. How he explained it, with such passion which I am sure came more from the performance from Aron Eisenberg, always reminded me of how some religious leaders would try to convince you that having faith and believing would always lead you to great things. O'Brien's reactions is how I see others on the outside of those faiths trying to make sense of it while trying not to pull their hair out in the process.

“Who Watches the Watchers” was my first episode of Star Trek that I ever saw. It blew my little kid mind. It’s still one of my favorite episode.

If anybody's going to kill the crew of my ship, it's going to be me! That's the Jane-Way!

This is definitely one of your best Trek, Actually videos yet! Kinda a shame you didn't mention the only pro-religion TOS episode; "Bread and Circuses"

Hey Steve Shives. You probably don't read the comments from older episodes... But wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your content. The heart shows in everything you do, and I am always happy to get a notification about a new video. Keep the faith, Brother. ^_^

Liked this one. Also an atheist and have listened for years. Big ST fan and I speak Klingon. I liked the religious discussion. I have heard fans in the past who love the show say stuff about how anti Christian or anti religious it is. While others think it is totally religious and even a cult. No critical thinking going on. On one religious radio show they even call Klingon demonic beings. Can't think beyond their own tiny world view.

I'd just like to say the actress who played kai Wynn did an amazing job in the role cause she played such a villainous character that I hated kai Wynn. Just to clarify I disliked the character which I think you are supposed to do and not the actress I think she did a phenomenal job in the role.

My favorite episode of Star Trek was the episode of Kirk and the gang going to a planet like earth that had gladiatorial fights aired on TV. The best gladiator refused to fight due to his new found faith saying that he should not kill. It was a good episode as it points to the inner struggle people may face. Do you go against your faith's teachings or your conscience to fit in or for your well-being? This showed we are better for sticking with our convictions on what is right than to betray them. His refusal to kill jeopardized his life but ment he had a clean conscience, and that is worth dieing for. This is one of the times it painted faith in a very positive light and actually argued for it.

Sacred Ground from Voyager season 3 is one of my favorites concerning science and spirituality. The doctor's technobabble about what Janeway went through was a sound explanation. At the same time, you can see on Janeway's face at the end that it didn't adequately describe her experience with the Nechani ritual. Also fascinating to see Chakotay, the crew's most spiritual member, showing the most skepticism about the ritual. That kind of thing happens often when two belief systems collide.

I think of that Bajoran monk every time I hear a Christian apologist ask "if you don't have God as an absolute moral authority what stops you from murdering people?"

It wasn’t until the end of the video that I realized this: It’s perfectly fine to not believe in any kind of religion, as you said. But you really will have to keep your eyes open and be sure that you don’t dismiss things you can’t explain and write them off as “they don’t exist because I can’t explain why this is what it is.” The thing is, if we’re going to reach the stars and travel through space, I’m pretty sure we’re going to encounter a lot that we cannot explain with science-because it hasn’t been developed far enough to integrate this new stuff into the body of scientific knowledge that we have. It will be important to continue to explore and investigate and grow that body of knowledge as humanity encounters new things. And remember: This universe, and everything in it, doesn’t exist to make anyone comfortable. It isn’t here to boost anyone’s egos and confirm, to them, what they already know or think they know.

The Hindu festival of lights, which is in October, was celebrated on TNG but just not showing and on Enterprises doctor Phlox went to mass at the Vatican city. So Star Trek did talk about real would religions just not that much.

Kirk’s comment of “What does God need of a starship” along with Picard’s treatment of Q leads me to believe that Starfleet’s “official” stance on Religion is “Seen it…not impressed”

Good video. I love the line, "What does God need with a starship?". I would like it if more people would be willing to exercise the reasoning behind the question. "What does God need with a....?" religious building, tithe, ritual, prayer, person speaking at a podium telling you what God wants, etc. An omnipotent God would need nothing physical from us as his omnipotence would already be imposed on everything, not requiring any input on our end to transpire. I have not had any person belonging to an institutionalized religion ever be able to answer that question without breaking the premise that God is omnipotent, all knowing.

I feel like one thing that may have been worth bringing up on the topic of cults would have been DS9 Season 2's "Sanctuary", which was very much a cult of personality around the character of Alixus, even if the population didn't believe they had an option of leaving (which, let's face it, often people within cults don't). This, in particular, is interesting because it's a secular version of a cult, where no "worship" is involved, but the philosophy of "don't blindly follow" is very much on topic, and even contrasted by O'Brien's willful but intelligent subservience to Sisko.

"The Vulcan "salute" was devised by Leonard Nimoy, who portrayed the half-Vulcan character Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek television series; In his 1975 autobiography 'I Am Not Spock', Nimoy, who was Jewish, wrote that he based it on the Priestly Blessing performed by Jewish Kohanim with both hands, thumb to thumb in this same position, representing the Hebrew letter Shin (ש), which has three upward strokes similar to the position of the thumb and fingers in the gesture. The letter Shin here stands for El Shaddai, meaning "Almighty (God)", as well as for Shekhinah and Shalom. Nimoy wrote that when he was a child, his grandfather took him to an Orthodox synagogue, where he saw the blessing performed and was impressed by it."...(he said you weren't supposed to peek during the blessing...he did...and saw the hand gesture...)

Surprised you didn’t mention Who Mourns Adonaus, where Kirk looks at a god and tells him humanity has outgrown him

I'm not even 3 and a half minutes in and thinking about Riker telling Ensign Ro Laren to take her earring off

Accession is a great episode because as far as anybody on Bajor knows, Sisko and a few others simply fly into the Wormhole and Akoram Laan strangely disappears. And once again Sisko is the uncontested emissary. Nobody asks any questions and there is no follow up story. Even Jake doesn't write an article about it. I love how everybody on Bajor thinks this is a legit system.

I always got a kick out of how Liko does his earnest to salvage “Palmer” in WWTW. I wonder if the botched memory wipe somehow freed him from Bob, too. I’d like to imagine so.

Don't forget that Richard Daystrom invented the M5 computer that was "religious" too. The computer had a moral compass according to "the laws of God and man". That also says something about Star Trek's views on religion.

Thank you for pointing out what that Vulcans have is religion. It feels like people don't want to acknowledge that. I can undestand why--as an atheist and HUGE Spock fan it can feel a little weird to think about how religious he is....but only if you force it into a real world context. When you remember that they do have evidence for their beliefs, as you pointed out with the katra, it all makes sense again. Also, I don't think I'll ever get over how the Klingons killed their gods in their legends. So badass.

It seems like most of all, Star Trek teaches us to not have 'blind faith'. Mostly in religions, especially organized religions, but really any institution.

I love this take. Especially the breakdown of Picard. That's how I feel about it too. If there's nothing else that's fine, and I have zero evidence that there is anything else after death. But there is still a lot we don't understand so, maybe...? Anyway, great essay as usual Steve. Looking forward to the next one.

Bread and Circuses. Great episode which has positive things to say about Christianity. Surprised that episode didn't make your video. It credits religion as being a positive social change happening on a planet like earth in the 20th century but in a Roman empire type of society. Also "Who Mourns Adonis" showed religion as outdated, but the final words of Kirk have a positive nostalgia for religion. And organized humans can cause great good OR great evil, with or without a religion. Who killed the most in the 20th century, religion or the State?

So it's easy to say "the future is better without religion X" when it's a huge religion with many nations who practice it. Take away Christianity and there will still be all those nations who have Christianity as their major religion. They even still seemingly celebrate Christmas judging by Picard's Nexus hallucination. But I think it's less fair when you look at minority groups who have a strong tie to a religion like Jews or Sikhs who would just no longer exist apparently. Certainly I believe in the ability of Jewish to still identify themselves as Jews without religion (I myself am an Athiest Jew) but most of society doesn't see it that way, indeed some people get very upset when you try to talk about Jewishness in a secular or athiest capacity (and I don't just mean religious jews, plenty of non Jews get very upset by this as well). So it kind of hurts to not see anyone Jewish in Star Trek when it's supposed to be all about IDIC and Jews have very specifically been persecuted because of said beliefs. The answer shouldn't be "we dump our religion" it should be "out religion stops being a point of prejudice against us." Part of the reason why this has happened, of course is because Jewishness is seen as a religious belief. There certainly have been characters who could have been Jewish based on their names like Dr. Zimmerman or Lt. Levy (though I certainly hope he's not). I'm not even saying that a character has to be wearing a Kippah star of david, but something like Eddington's lucky looney speech that gave him a Canadian ancestry could be mentioned.

Babylon 5 was pretty cool I'd like to see more deep, nuanced, and realistic analysis of religion in futuristic science fiction. I don't much care if they presuppose that religion is true or that it is false so long as they are thoughtful about it.

When you said "According to these readings, I am... dead?" I laughed so hard I had a coughing fit. You are awesome, man 🖖

The only thing that truly bugged me about bajor is how verdant it was. Considering it was supposed to be a bombed out bad neighborhood all of the scenes on the planet made it look like a resort in Hawaii. Course then again TOS would show a orange/brown planet from space that looked like you couldn't even breathe it's atmosphere but be like "Captain thrackeon V is an M class planet"

You didn't mention the part of "Bread and Circuses" where Uhura mentioned that christianity took it's time on Magna Roma and the sun god they were talking bout was the "son of god" and made the end of the episode seem like it was some kind of religious thing. As an atheist myself, and a minister in the CotFSM, I share in your secular views and that is one of the many reasons I am a huge Trekkie. Keep up the good work.

Q is a bit of a complex subject though, Steve. If we were to pull out the classic alignment square from D&D, he was definitely more of a Chaotic Good than a Chaotic Evil. Remember, he warned the TNG crew about the presence of the Borg AND he saved Picard's life in Tapestry! At best, he's mischievous. But I wouldn't call him a villain.

"More than just rejecting religion is necessary for curing society's ills." A point the Dawkbros and dictionary atheists of the "New Atheist" ( * eyeroll *) movement missed by several lightyears. Ah, Steve, remember the "deep rifts"?

Gonna have to rewatch this episode now. I could have sworn the guest Emissary was not an Emissary from the past, but a dude who decided his time slip qualified him for the gig.

I do love how the alien makeup for them in this episode is literally just Romulan prosthetics that aren't painted a greenish color lol.

The "Who watchtes the watcher" segment remainded me to a quote from another franchise: "Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES!" Winston from Ghostbusters

Star Trek in many ways provides a good example of igtheism, in that it presents a number of beings that are viewed as gods, outright claim to be gods or have qualities that are very similar to those we would traditionally associate with gods. So the question shifts from: show me evidence that your god exists, to: explain to me why this individual (that clearly exists) is a god.

There's a line in Wrath of Khan where McCoy refers to the six day creation as "Myth"

I'm surprised you didn't mention that at the end of Bread and Circuses, that at least, Uhura seems to think that worshiping a "Son of God" is somehow more advanced an idea than worshiping pagan gods. Also, I distinctly remember a episode, maybe that or maybe Who Mourns for Adonis, where an authority figure proclaims that the crew of the Enterprise will worship the gods, and Kirk retorts, "The one will is fine, thanks." I think both of these probably have something to do with network interference or placating in advance the same, but they are instances where ongoing characters make remarks that indicate religious belief or attitudes toward religion.

Always makes my day when you drop a long one, Steve.

DS9 was the best at exploring life within Star Fleet. I’m hoping that we get a little less fast pacing in Picard season 2 to be able to experience a little more of that. I want to understand what drives the current millennium, much as how we learned about the lives of Star Fleet, Ferengi, Klingon, and Cardassians. Knowing the poetic nature of Cardassia, and the like adds so much more to the lore of the series

This is a salient reminder of when Star Trek actually addressed issues in an intelligent, coherent and entertaining fashion. Nice one Steve.

As always - I enjoy hearing your perspective on things. Interesting subject.

I have a hard time taking too much issue with religious beliefs that are held by oppressed peoples, especially when used to assert an identity and provide a framework for striving toward liberation. To me, the Bajorans are the most interesting of the alien cultures in Star Trek, and it's worth emphasizing that their religious beliefs aren't just an incidental world-building detail added because it's fun to conceptualize alien religions. It is inextricably linked to their oppression and the struggle against it. Star Trek shows us how myth and ritual really can become a vital source of personal and community strength to people in such circumstances. Major Kira would not be the revolutionary she is without her faith. And, as a jaded atheist and recovering evangelical Christian, I also know how easy it is to co-opt, exploit, and manipulate those ideologies in favor of the status quo. I don't know where that leaves us as far as religion goes. But I think maybe it's more of a symptom than a disease, and the best way to dismantle irrational spiritual beliefs is by building a better world for everyone.

The Enterprise episode "Cold Front" does give us confirmation that Earth religions still exist. I think if any character sums up Star Trek's view on religion, it would have to be Captain Archer, trying to keep an "open mind," but immediately pointing out when a religious group is being misguided or hypocritical.

In “Bread and Circuses”, Uhura says that the “sun worshippers” aren’t worshipping the sun in the sky, but the “son of God”. The only reference to Christianity in TOS (that I know of).

Picard for sure was very trigger happy with the self-destuct in season 1.

I've never rewatched Accession but I remember being impressed with it when it first came out. It establishes very clearly that religion is dangerous and needs careful handling. It was fortunate that The Prophets behaved benevolently and responsibly.

Wow, dude, that was impressively nuanced. That and your explanation of how "representation" in fiction is worthy of superseding canon have given me a new appreciation for your evolving point of view over the years. Thank you for being you! There is value in taking time for introspection. From your content in this period, it would seem that you made good use of the opportunity to indulge that process. I suspect that the circumstances that led to that opportunity may have been uncomfortable, but you made good use of it. Joy and sorrow are sides of a coin...

One of the recurring themes in the original series was rejecting paradise. "This Side of Paradise," "The Paradise Syndrome," "I, Mudd," "Return of the Archons," and "Who Mournes for Adonis" (in which Kirk basically killed a literal god). It ties into Kirk's ST5 philosophy of pain and suffering being part of who we are. One of the things that always bothered me about most western religions is the idea of getting into heaven or the Garden of Eden or something similar. Wanting to go to heaven is like wanting to revert to a state of childhood, or the idea of going back to a "simpler time," and in doing so, giving up both freedom and knowledge. (This was also a recurring theme in Twilight Zone.)

Great episode. I really appreciated you taking a look at the complexity in the content here.

A fare and well discussed video. One of my favorites, well done!

I remember in Enterprise Dr. Phlox said he visited religious sites on Earth and met with priests and monks. So there's still at least some religious practice on Earth in the future. There's also the episode "Balance of Terror" when at the beginning before the wedding is interrupted, the bride kneels and prays at the altar, which implied she is Catholic.

Can’t wait… Just finished rewatching STTNG S2Ep4, The Outrageous Okona. Data is a comedic savant when he’s not trying.

Surprised you didn’t mention any of the overtly Christian moments of the original series. When Kirk was confronted by an alien that was a former greek god he says “we have no need for gods anymore, the one is enough.” There is also an entire episode about a species who’s religion was evolving to worship the sun, and the crew eventually came to understand it was “son” as in son of god.

Don't forget the TOS episodes Who Mourns for Adonais and Bread and Circuses.

I know this couldn't list EVERY religious mention in every show since 1966, but the one that really got me was at the end of TOS "Bread and Circuses", where the triumvirate were musing on the slaves worshipping the sun, only for Uhura to correct them that the slaves were worshipping the SON of God, not the sun in the sky. The episode ended at that part, but to me, that just opened so many more questions than anything, tbh.

Great video! A lot of time and research went into this, very well done! Probably one of the best you have ever done.

"spacing Wesley" made me laugh more than it should

I would argue that the general theme of Trek RE: religion is summed up by two lines from two series really. One is Picard's famous bit about the Mintakans in season 3 of TNG. The other is in DS9s Accession when Odo correctly points out that Kira's religious thought process leads her to contradiction, and Kira, personifying the religious population says something like "If you don't have faith, you can't reconcile it, but if you have faith you don't need to". I can think of no more religious a line. It's the thought process that is the problem. And Kira comes up against it when she tries to be an artist. Then she does a very common post hoc rationalization. The weird part is that nobody once said that maybe Sisko murdered the Emissary and is now working for Satan. I mean the Pah Wraiths. Opportunity lost for an apt potential story. There was an interesting point you made around the 18 minute mark and I think it's worth some more thought and explanation. The idea that god always seems to agree with the person who's claiming to know what god thinks. That's not a coincidence. Doubly so if you consider that as far as we can tell, no god has ever communicated anything to any human. The best humans have ever gotten is other people claiming their will is god's will, or a book written by humans claiming what's written is god's will. Also not a coincidence. I think there's an important thing to mention in Where Silence Has Lease. Picard's wishy washy response should be held alongside the fact that Picard personally has experienced at least one functionally a god in Q. He's almost certainly read mission reports about beings like Trelain, or Apollo (from that awful TOS episode). He's also personally experienced a part of reality that is made manifest by the act of thought in Where No One Has Gone Before. So, if anyone in Trek has reasonable grounds to make such a wishy washy statement, it's Picard. What Picard was objecting to in season 3 was about the thought process that religions invoke (faith: Belief without sufficient evidence, or in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary). And he is absolutely correct in being weary of that thought process. Because it can lead ANYWHERE. Then see the "god always agrees with the person who's claiming to speak for god" part. Here's where I think you may be missing the point. The Westboro Baptist Church. Most reasonable decent humans would agree they are a hateful bigoted group of theists. The trouble is that their espoused beliefs are in fact biblical. And their method for accepting it (faith) is functionally identical to a Muslim moderate who's accepted Islam, a Unitarian Universalist believing in one god maximum, or any other religion. There is no way to say that WBC are wrong about any gods. And they can't say any more convincingly than any other religious person that their brand of baptist is the correct religion. They are all equally valid or invalid because they all rely on the same flawed thought process. Faith. I could invent right now a religion that would be infinitely more reasonable, compassionate, and less dangerous than nay religion currently in existence. But if in a part of that religion I extol faith as the pathway to truth, then all I've done is set up potential adherents to forgo thinking critically, and to accept the next authority they happen to be swayed toward. And that is how con artists work. It's how you subjugate entire cultures. I think THAT right there is the heart of Picard's outburst in season 3.

This is a great analysis, Steve. Star Trek, for me, has always been about asking important questions and provoking intelligent thought. Really enjoyed this video.

My understanding of Accession was that Akorem wasn't the Emissary when he left Bajor 300 years ago, it was the act of communing with the Prophets in the Celestial Temple (read getting stuck in a worm hole with some weird transdimensional entities for 300 years) that made him the Emissary. This is in the same way that Cisco finding the wormhole made him the Emissary in the Bajoran people's eyes. Except, Dax was with him and she was never like the Holy Trill or whatever...so...that's weird. Anyway, from my understanding there can only be one Emissary. It's like being Jesus...not like being Pope. Being Kai is like being Pope.

This was a fun watch. I also want to say I appreciate that you didn't just voice your own side, and spend 10 minutes explaining why it is right, the other isn't, and those people should feel bad for what they choose to believe. Not to say you just would, but some people would, and I personally know a couple of people who would come down as hard on "faithful" people as some really dogmatic, religious people would on atheists. Personally, I've never really liked the Bajoran faith, as I sometimes question if they actually have faith. While it could seem ridiculous to place trust in a being that might not even exist, to be able to alter outcomes, and has been certifiably proven to not at times, if they do exist, the fact thatcthe Bajorans DO know that their deities are real, and that they do have objects that possess supernatural power, makes me wonder where their faith comes in, especially since the Prophets didn't stop the Cardassians, save Bajor, or even prevent many deaths, and much suffering, during the occupation. It's sort of how I can't view Superman as brave. Superman is invulnerable, and he's aware of it. 9/10 he's not taking any risks to save others, apart from maybe just nor being fast enough to interpose himself between them and harm. He assumes nothing will hurt him, and he can be a certain amount reckless. He's not brave because he's not afraid, at least most of the time. Sure, when a situation comes up that CAN genuinely threaten him, assuming it's not an issue where even if he "dies", our yellow sun will regenerate him, he does still fight, and risk his safety, but I still question whether that's courage, or obligation, mixed with someone writing a script.

Not all humans in Star Trek are anti-religious. Captain Luke's father was a religious scholar and teacher, and in season 2 of Discovery, he greets the members of the transplant wanted religious community with "May the Peace of the Ord be with you", a greeting used by Jesus, and later by Catholics, Lutherans and other Christians. As far back as TOS, Uhura points out that the slaves in " Bread and Circuses" are not "sun worshipers", butf9llowers of the Son of God. ; she points out that the Roman broadcaster tried to ridicule their belief, but he couldn't do it. So, in this episode, Septimus and Flavius are definitely finite followers, and Uhura has at least studied the Bible.

I, for one, welcome our new Picard overlord.

A truly excellent video on this subject. I was especially impressed by the way you effortlessly cut off any attempt at whataboutism from any religious trolls that may happen upon this video, by illustrating and emphasising that, while you do not personally have faith, you respect the religious faith of others up until the point where they use it to justify asshole behaviour. As it should be. That sentence came out longer running than it did in my head when formulating it. I give likes rarely, preserving that right for when a video truly earns it. You got one here, but I wish I could give two.

I think there are many good 'religion' episodes. Those you mention are definitely hanging out near the top of my list. But there is one in which they go the other way that I enjoyed. It is in Voyager so naturally there are some problems with the episode, but I like the take on it. I am talking about the season 3 episode "Sacred Ground." Kess is injured by a religious artifact and through contrived circumstances, Janeway must go through a religious ceremony to save her. There are two parts I really liked. First, is the quote, "If you can explain everything, what's left to believe in?" This is a great philosophical question which is most of the reason I love star trek so much. The other is similar. Janeway is arguing that with enough time eventually a cure would be found. The old man says: "Even when her science fails right before her eyes she still has full confidence in it. Now there's a leap of faith." I think this is an interesting way of drawing parallels between science and religion. Is it the best episode? No. But it is interesting and made me think, and that is at lest worth something.

You mean Lwaxana right? Cause anyone who's seen soul eater and knows what the "Excalibur face" is, that's basically everyone's reaction to Lwaxana. I especially love the one episode where the cold open literally starts with; "Counselor Troi's Personal Log - My Mother is On Board"

R.I.P. Camille Saviola who portrayed Kai Opaka on DS9 and recently passed away. May the Prophets take good care of her.

Can’t believe we didn’t get a “OK I am the Messiah…” joke during this one.

It has to be pointed out, that the Bajoran deities actually exist (as weird energy beings that live outside of time in a wormhole). Although, it did turn out the orbs were their attempts to communicate with other beings like them, and they didn't even view corporeal beings who live in linear time to be true life forms (at least before they met Sisko...but that raises the question of "how do they learn things if they don't experience time?") As far as Picard's comments in "Where Silence Has Lease", I somewhat agree with him there. While I am also athiest, I believe there is more to the universe and existence than we currently understand. Though I don't necessarily think that means "afterlife". I don't think anything is fundamentally unknowable, it's just outside of our current understanding. I would never believe in any sort of deity or divine being.

The Ren fair cloths they gave pre-industrial aliens on TNG were always great…

Dammit! I was waiting for the Kilngon religion breakdown and …well, I get it, we don’t learn nearly as much as we do about the Bajoran religion, but there were some very interesting and powerful depictions of Klingon religion. The beliefs seemed to be a mixture of Norse (I mean, they are basically space Vikings!) with bits of Taoism (including but not limited to Worf’s Klingon Tai Chi. It’s been a while since I watched it, but the episode were the cloned Kahless is brought back and Worf, after some understandable anger, maintains his beliefs and is able to see the Kahless clone as a potential religious leader and teacher, even without the deception of lying about his origin.