Battlestar Galactica Theology

[qos]

I've only watched the miniseries and the first two eps of season one ("33" and "Water") but one topic is becoming increasingly prominent to me.

I might not have even noticed fully if athenian_abroad hadn't raised the subject of the Cylons' monotheism: but it's fascinating to me how the representative of the mechanical race speaks so frequently of "God," and what a clear distinction she makes between those who created her race and the being she calls "God."

Unless I'm mis-remembering my classwork, it's almost gnostic: the separation of the Divine One from the fallen 'demiurge' who is the creator of the material world.

And unfortunately, that's all the mental horsepower I can muster on this topic tonight.

Comments

Hmm...

[princesca.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I got the monotheism part, but the separation she makes between God and a creative force hasn't been prevalent, in my mind. She does speak of the human race as their 'parents', with the Cylons as their 'children'... so I suppose I simply let the metaphor rest at that. I did, however, find the idea of the more 'advanced' society (Cylons) being monotheistic, while the less 'advanced' society (humans) is still pagan/polytheistic.

Do you think they're trying to make a thinly-veiled comment that monotheism is the way of an advanced people? And if so, what happens with the third generation? Does it go from polytheism, to monotheism, to 'enlightened' belief in only science, technology, or nothing at all?

In some ways, it reminds me a little of Elizabeth Hand's life-changing book (for me, anyway) Waking the Moon. She writes about the push and pull of matriarchal versus patriarchal religion, and the positives and negatives of both, and similar concepts are fairly plainly illustrated in BSG. I just wonder how much we can buy in to those stereotypes.

I have no idea if these thoughts make sense. I'm having a low blood sugar moment. ;)

Re: Hmm...

[qos.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. . . You make a good point that the Cylons speak of humanity as "parents." It kind of puts it in perspective. Obviously they don't consider humanity to be any kind of divinity. I was the one who read that into the 'text' of the show.

Do you consider the Cylons "more advanced"? Their victories over humanity seem to have been due to surprise and numbers, not an overwhelming technological edge. And I don't think we know more about their society to be able to say it is more advanced. And what does "more advanced" mean anyway? ;-)

But it does seem to be a common assumption in our modern Western culture that monotheism is more advanced -- and more "correct" -- than polytheism, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's a deliberate element in the show: the supposed irony of humanity's artificial children have a theology that most viewers would find more familiar and comfortable than that of the humans.

I'm really looking forward to finding out more about the human faith.

Although this show will probably suffer from what I consider to be one of the consistent weaknesses of sci-fi and fantasy: homogeneous religious culture. Are there any humans who belong to a different faith than that of the Lords of Kobol?

Babylon-5 was one of the very few places where I've seen religious diversity presented well.

[bbovenguy.livejournal.com]

There's more to come. Ron Moore has said in a number of interviews that he wants to explore the Cylons' belief system and their motivations behind what they're doing. But the gnostic aspects don't really hold up, or at least it didn't look that way to me.

You'll get to see a lot more of the humans' religious beliefs, too.

[qos.livejournal.com]

But the gnostic aspects don't really hold up.

On further reflection, I think you're probably right. As princesca pointed out, Cylons consider humanity their 'parents' not divinity. So my initial observation doesn't work as well as I first thought.

I'm looking forward to finding out more about the religious beliefs, and about whether or not there is any diversity in human religiosity. I'd be disappointed if it turned out to be Kobol or atheism (which is what I've seen so far).

[preacha.livejournal.com]

Ok, this is totally off the subject, but I think I need that icon every day. I swear Mr. Spock was my surrogate father. I saw his picture on your post and I wanted to go wrap my arms around his shinbone and never let go! Hmmmm...I sense I am craving security right now. Fascinating!

[qos.livejournal.com]

Ha!

This icon was actually made for me by a friend -- I think it was tamnonlinear (and I'm *really* embarrassed that I can't remember!) -- after I decried my lack of Star Trek icons relatively early in my LJ-ing.