Ask An Atheist

Hi guys,

I watch this show every week and usually enjoy it, but this week’s episode was a real disappointment. First things first, as atheists we have to struggle constantly to show the majority of the population that we’re normal people and not crazy people with delusions. It’s something that I have to face everyday as an atheist; convincing religious folks that, yes, I’m as sane a person as you.

When I turned on the show today (DVR from Sunday) I’ll admit I was upset. What does Star Trek have to do with atheism? “Okay,” I thought, “I’ll watch and try to see their point…” In the first few minutes, “Beardface” declares that most atheists are Star Trek fans; Is that really the case? Has there been a study and can you document that statement? Are we not, as atheists, trying to avoid making unsupported generalizations about belief? Sure, I’m an atheist and I like Star Trek, however, my wife is an atheist and doesn’t really prefer it over any other show and, in fact, her father is a minister and loves Star Trek.

Being on “The Bridge of the Enterprise D” was a pretty geeky move, but “Redshirt” wearing a full Star Trek uniform really pushed things over the edge. To those folks who might be tuning in for the first time you were making atheists look like the same fantasy obsessed geeks that wear their Trek uniforms on the city bus. It makes us all look like less rational people; people who subscribe to a fantasy world that is every bit as imaginary as the ones detailed in various religions and supernatural beliefs.

What followed were five Star Trek clips directly relevant to atheism/religion, however, only one of them favored atheism while the next four favored religion! So you made a fine spectacle of defeating your own point and proposing the idea that Star Trek is an atheist show that has been back-stabbed by its writers. The show is just that, a show, and exists as it was written. Trying to claim it for one side and exclude the parts you dislike as some kind of PR treachery is ludicrous.

It seems that the rest of the clips had little or nothing to do with atheism and neither did the rest of the show. The next time you guys want to do this make sure and mention it on the previous week’s show so that those of us who are interested in atheism don’t waste space on our DVR watching a couple Trekkies (or Trekkers if you prefer) geek out about their favorite TV show. In fact, the enormous amount of geeky pop-culture references on this episode, and several others, robs the show of credibility and by association, robs atheists of credibility.

Don’t get me wrong, I like sci-fi and Fantasy as much as the next guy; Old B-movies, Star Trek, Star Wars, Tolkien, Firefly, D&D, you name it, but bringing it up on the show only serves to make the majority judge us and segregate us even more. Please try to keep on target, TV and movies are just as fake as religion and have very little place in informing others about our existence and defining our philosophy or rationale.

-RTK

I’d agree that the full geek-garb was an unnecessary distraction. That aside, it was interesting to learn of Roddenberry’s humanistic vision and his purported desire to include that in the series. It was saddening to learn of the dialogue in the script that was contradictory to that vision. I loved watching NG as a kid, and would speculate that money was the decisive factor (as it usually is) in determining what exactly is going to air. After all, you have to appeal to the demographic for good ratings. Profit is the name of the game, unfortunately.