Questions & Answers
Star Trek
Question concerning Star Trek: My sons have recently become caught up with several incarnations of the "Star Trek" series, specifically the spin-offs "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager". I've watched it with them occasionally, and seen a few things that have disturbed me. Specifically, collective consciousness, alien prophecies and most of all, other gods, (known in the series as "the prophets") I am concerned about what kids are learning from this. Have you any thoughts about this?
Answer from Matthew Yates: The parent's concerns are well-founded. "Star Trek" strongly promotes the secular humanist worldview of its creator, Gene Roddenberry. Roddenberry was a creative genius, but his Godless worldview permeates the Trek universe.
First, there is the matter of the "Prime Directive." In the world of Trek, it is the categorical imperative that every astronaut must follow. Simply stated, it is classic cultural relativism. No person who visits another planet may interfere with that planet's cultural values.
The 5th in the series of big-screen movies turned Christian-bashing into an art form. The crew had to battle a malevolent god and his apostles, who dress in Biblical-era clothing. The moral, flatly stated at the end, is that God is nothing more than "the human heart." (I should also mention that this was the least popular of all the Trek movies.)
Most religion on the show is handled from a similarly secular viewpoint, except one TV episode where the Enterprise landed on a planet of what they thought were sun worshippers. It turned out they were *Son* worshippers; Jesus was saving this planet as He had saved Earth.
Hope this helps!