Battlestar Galactica vs. Christianity

Sitting in the Sistine Chapel while on my week off with kids in Rome, looking at all these frescoes of the Christian stories on the ceiling, I could not help myself to start linking them to Battlestar Galactica.

What on Earth is he talking about, I hear you whisper. Bear with me a bit, please.

You see, me and my kids are big fans of the Battlestar Galactica 2004-2009 TV series and were, after ending a day of Rome exploration with a serious dinner, sitting in our camper van and watching episodes. So, where’s the link with the Sistine Chapel?

Well, all these Christian stories – as well as these of other religions – keep opening up philosophical dilemmas of human life; what is the nature and meaning of life, what is the right way of living, how to and how not to, why, who…

Now, if you take Battlestar Galactica, while being a science fiction TV series, it also keeps opening up rather heavy duty themes and dilemmas through its stories: religion vs. science, killing one saving thousands, sacrificing your own son and saving humanity, being faithful to a given promise or to the inner sense of conscience, search for our true identity and the question what difference does it make when you find out and see it is not quite what you hope it would be, about guilt and responsibility, about racism, nationalism, us and them distinction, grief and forgiving, about leading and serving…, and so on and so forth.

But there is one huge difference: in Battlestar Galactica (or Star Wars or whatever else) these stories are presented as stories, perhaps with the hope they will entertain as well as inspire. In Christianity (and other religions), the stories are presented as the truth. Not only a truth, but THE TRUTH, the one and only truth that humans MUST believe in, or…

And, of course, since there are many different religions with their true stories, therefore many true accounts of the God’s way, we have a problem and we need to march into the holy wars. Just imagine a few aliens coming over from the outer space, observing this scene of ours: people making up stories, writing them down in books and then claiming these stories were written by God and finally fighting each other over the question who’s stories are the true God’s stories. They probably would not see us as very intelligent species.

Well, I so much love to hear (it does not happen very often) a spiritual person or a religious leader saying: “Hey guys, I don’t know, I really don’t. I perceive life as such and such, but this perception is no better than other perceptions. So why don’t we just sit down and share our worries and joys and pains, try to understand each other and just simply connect?”

Like when Soto Zen founder Dogen came from long studies and trainings back to Japan and when he was asked what he learned and what he knew was the Truth, he was reported to have said: “Well, the only thing I know for sure is that eyes are horizontal and that nose is vertical!”

Anyway, when somebody comes over and says: “This book was written by the God, the one and only God. Everything in this book is the absolute truth. You must live according to it or you will burn in hell. And you must go around the world and convert everybody else to believing into these stories, with the sword if needed…”, well, I will always choose to turn away and prefer to get entertained and inspired by Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars.

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