Sunday, January 24, 2010
Battlestar
While I usually watch shows in the Star Trek genre my boyfriend has always been into shows like Battlestar Galatica and Stargate. He owns the first season of Battlestar Galactica so I suggested we watch some, in the interest of better educating me for this class. We ended up watching the first episode which was really a 4 hr miniseries, and wow, it was great. For most of it I wasn't really thinking about religion. The super short version of the plot for those who don't know is that 40yrs ago the people of the 12 colonies ended a war with the Cylons which were a race of artifically intelligent beings created by humans who then turned against us. No one has even heard from them since the end of the war until they launch an attack and essentally destroy the planets. The story follows survivors on board a small caravan of space ships. However at the end of the episode it gives a tantalizing hint of thier religion. A priestess is holding a ceremony for all of the dead and we learn that they believe in 12 gods which lead them to the 12 colonies. There is also a myth that there was a 13th colony called Earth. I plan on watching the rest of the second season in the next week or so but this first episode really peaked my interest. I was almost suprised when it suddenly got all religious at the end because there was no sign that they held any sort of religious beliefs before the last few scenes. The fact that their religion was polythestic suprised me. I think that we often think that the most sofisticated religions are monothestic and that having multiple gods is somehow primative. So my question to you all is this; do you think that it is possible or probale that a polythestic religion will gain overwhelming popularity either in the near or distant future?
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2 comments:
I think it is possible for a religion like Hinduism to grow in the future, b/c mysticism seems to be gaining in popularity these days, especially forms of Eastern mysticism. Of course, there is debate as to whether or not Hinduism is polytheistic, but I see no reason why someone would abandon that particular aspect of it.
On the other hand, it is true that our culture (even in aspecific religious contexts) tends to assume that a majority believe in a single God. Maybe it's b/c the 3 most popular world religions at present are Islam, Christianity and Judaism? Someone correct me if I'm wrong on that...Anyhoo, it's a thought.
If you look at 2,000 years worth of religious history - anything is possible.
I heard it argued that L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology is polytheistic. I don't believe that it is. However, it's a good example that anything is possible. Scientology is a fairly recent religion and does have followers.
"One belief of Scientology is that a human is an immortal alien spiritual being, termed a thetan, that is trapped on planet Earth in a physical body."
Historically, religions wax and wane in popularity.
As for BSG - isn't it a wonderful series?
Brad
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