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richardhutnik on 10 August 2010
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Kasz216 said:
richardhutnik said:
Kasz216 said:

I just got done watching Babylon 5 again through netflix.  There are a number of atheists on that show.

Or heck, Look at Star Trek.  Every single person on Star Trek I think is an atheist.  Outside of Worf anyway and maybe Riker.  The thing is, nobody knows that... because atheism is kinda useless as a storytelling device. 

Ahh yes, Star Trek.  Gene Roddenbury used the show to preach secular humanism.  His universe doesn't have chaplains on board.  They aren't religious.  The show is about how reason and science can advance all intelligent life.  Someone being an atheist doesn't say anything about them.  It isn't an attribute that says something about someone.

Yeah, I can see why a lot of star trek fans hate DS9 because it muddys and ruins that perfect idealism... and adds in religion to boot that may or may not be real to so it's not like they're even kept with an imperfect atheist universe.  Outside of like Klingons.  Who killed their gods anyway... yet have an afterlife. 

However if you ask me, it's far superior to the other Star Treks just due to far greater character development and story depth.


Though, that's largely my point in the end.  Someone being an atheist doesn't say anything about anybody.  At all.  That's true in our life too.  I mean, being a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Atheist whatever... it doesn't really say anything about you at all.

All the best writing, just writes everybody like people, with things like their religion and race as after thoughts... that if they do come up, are really hard to notice until they do come up.

The Star Trek universe became much darker and less focused when Gene Roddenbury died.  It lacked the preachiness that gave the original Star Trek some meaning.  Anyhow, as of now Star Trek is rebooted as an action sci-fi movie, with just fun on mind.

In the case of atheism, the answer for someone comes after they become an atheist.  What exactly do they gravitate towards to give their life an identity, and something they can connect to?  Once you get that, then you start to have a character fleshed out in a movie, or any other piece of fiction.