Discovering Atheism

The nuanced take on religion from the production that banned the use of the word God on set should be a great watch.

Karen, I thought Pike was tremendously appealing when he told Burnham that they would break some rules and have fun. But this comment came on the heals of the death of Connolly, so it seemed a tad inappropriate. The Pike of episode 2 seemed much more serious, almost as though he was bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. Dour isn't quite the word I wanted to describe his demeanor, and this description doesn't quite do it either, but it will do for now. We all have our different interpretations of the characters. BTW, I saw an interview with Anson, Sonequa, Mary W. and Anthony in which Anson commented on the fact that it takes a while for an actor to build a character so he was at a disadvantage in that the others already had a season to round their characters into shape.

Hi Kev, Haven't we seen some indications of a Vulcan religion in previous series? Rituals are a feature of their culture, and I would think they have roots in religious beliefs. After all, Spock's struggle is with logic v, emotion, not science v, religion. Was the quote really from Asimov? I couldn't agree more that science and religion are asking different questions and seeking to answer them with very different methods.

I wonder if Burnham is simply a product of her upbringing here. she believes in science and logic, things that the Vulcans venerate and believes that all religions are simply emotional props and explanations for things unexplainable by the believers scientific and logical level of sophistication. This actually bugs me as she keeps on saying that she is a xenoanthropologist and as such she should be more tolerant and less argumentative of others culture and beliefs. Pike's position seems to be that he also is a non believer but is respectful and knowledgeable about others beliefs and is not going to openly challenge them as it is not his place to judge. The scene in his ready room with the modified Asimov quote seems to indicate that he is not anticipating a God but a highly advanced alien species. There is no fight between science and religion both are trying to discover Universal truth but from different directions.

To be sure, I don't either, Karen. But that's the way writers have presented it, as science versus religion. Early on, we see Pike as being extremely troubled by growing up with a father who was a science teacher and a student of comparative religion. Actually I found that to be a rather big change in his personality from the first episode in which he was light-hearted and almost lacking in gravitas, enough so that I wondered how he was chosen to be the captain of a starship like the Enterprise. In this episode, he is showing himself as a more contemplative and conflicted person, one who is capable of sacrificing himself for others without a second thought. He's not just that guy who can laugh about his F in astrophysics in front of subordinates . . . now that I think of it, I wonder why he got an F in a science course.

Glenn, I was pleasantly surprised to hear you mention Michael Shermer (psst, not Sherman). I first became aware of him many, many years ago when he was a bicycle racer and participated in the Race Across America, a non-stop coast-to-coast gruelathon. When I saw someone with the same name associated with The Skeptic, I was delighted to discover it was him. Not too many years ago he gave a talk at my university during which he showed the white gorilla video. If you are familiar with it, you will be aware that it demonstrates how very easy it is to fool our senses. If not, be on the lookout. It's amazing. At any rate, I'm happy that he's willing to publicly engage all the various "deniers" out there and take on the role of debunker in chief.

Karen, I'm not sure I catch your drift. Contests do have winners and losers, don't they?

Good news. Yesterday I read that Season 2 has brought a spike in subscriptions to CBS All Access. Haven't come across mention of it online though.

Framing the discussion as science versus religion was most unfortunate in my view. Doing so suggests that they are locked in mortal combat with only one victor allowed. Instead, as Burnham implies when she asks if anyone has used science to figure out how the people got to Terralysium, they are different ways of obtaining knowledge. In science answers are checked to see if they are correct through observation of the natural world and experimentation. Religion is based on belief which, by definition, requires no such checking, no proof. As the All-Mother said: "We have no need of proof. We are guided by the existence of something greater than ourselves -- our faith." She did good until the last word which should have been God, not faith. The thing greater than ourselves is God, not our faith in the existence of something greater than ourselves; that's tautological thinking. It's been curious to see how popular the word faith has become in recent years. In the adjective form, faith-based, it's ungainly.

Never watched BSG reboot. Burnham definitely represents at the least the Vulcan view of formal religion (though frankly seems like their discipline is super close to religion). Pike seemed VERY comfortable about it, I suppose that was the family he grew up in. I can see a father who in pursuit of a rounded view, dragging his kids to different disciplines and churches to experience services. It actually *would* help interacting with other species. Also, I don't think faith is superstition, it's not even necessarily formally religious. I separate religion and belief though. I do not think you have to be a constant, card carrying church goer to have a deep faith. But that's just me. When it comes to formal religion, a whole lot of it seems to have to do with our nature of seeing patterns, or wanting to see patterns, seeking answers and often trying to subdue chaos. I *do* think it was fairly simplistically presented in New Eden. Very old school Trek. I think it's ok for now. I think Stamets had a way more nuanced and interesting thing to say about spirituality at least when he was talking about being on this side of the cycle in the mycelial network. And indeed Tilly's statement about a good haunting and energies greater than ourselves. These are of course all forms of religious toe dipping at the very least.

I love this question! I'm going to hold off answering because Valerie and I intend to have this conversation on the air this season and have had it in our back pocket ever since Saru's Short Trek which also raises some of these questions (or at least raises questions about the writers' relationship with religiosity), but I'm excited to read what other people think.