{"id":101231,"date":"2017-09-27T00:19:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T07:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=101231"},"modified":"2017-09-27T08:46:26","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T15:46:26","slug":"starship-want-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/09\/starship-want-god.html","title":{"rendered":"What would a Starship Want with God?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Deacon Steven Greydanus takes a look at the Star Trek franchise\u2019s complicated relationship with religion<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would God want with a starship?\u201d<\/p>\n

That line, uttered by William Shatner\u2019s Capt. James T. Kirk in the much-derided\u00a0Star Trek V: The Final Frontier<\/em>\u00a0(1989) \u2014 co-written and directed by Shatner himself \u2014 is probably that film\u2019s most famous (or infamous) moment.<\/p>\n

In the weeks building up to the recent debut of CBS\u2019s new series\u00a0Star Trek: Discovery<\/em>, buzz around the franchise has raised a different question: What would a starship want with God?<\/p>\n

The topic was raised several weeks ago\u00a0when a news story spelled out that \u2014 in keeping with\u00a0Star Trek<\/em>\u00a0creator Gene Roddenberry\u2019s secular-humanist brand of sci-fi utopianism \u2014\u00a0the word \u201cGod\u201d will not be uttered on the show<\/a>, even in casual profanities like \u201cfor God\u2019s sake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since many Christians object to profanity in entertainment, this\u00a0proscription would seem to be welcome news for faith audiences. The context and motivation, though, elicited concern from\u00a0Star Trek<\/em>\u00a0fans who are believers.<\/p>\n

One common response has been to\u00a0rattle off examples of positive religious references and images<\/a>\u00a0from The Original Series (TOS) onward, from scenes set in the original\u00a0Enterprise<\/em>\u2019s interfaith chapel to the episode \u201cBread and Circuses,\u201d which depicted an Earth-like planet with a parallel Roman Empire persecuting an underground faith originally thought to be sun worshippers, but whose deity Uhura ultimately says isn\u2019t \u201cthe sun in the sky; it\u2019s the Son of God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is a ton more at the link. \u00a0Check it out!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deacon Steven Greydanus takes a look at the Star Trek franchise\u2019s complicated relationship with religion: \u201cWhat would God want with a starship?\u201d That line, uttered by William Shatner\u2019s Capt. James T. Kirk in the much-derided\u00a0Star Trek V: The Final Frontier\u00a0(1989) \u2014 co-written and directed by Shatner himself \u2014 is probably that film\u2019s most famous (or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[403],"class_list":["post-101231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-i-am-nerdly-hear-me-roar"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat would a Starship Want with God?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Deacon Steven Greydanus takes a look at the Star Trek franchise's complicated relationship with religion: \u201cWhat would God want with a starship?\u201d That\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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