Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read
Thank you for this thoughtful response. I have a few reactions.
- In my observation, while the Hijab is not necessarily a sign of belief in God, I have seen it’s use exclusively chosen by women who do believe in God. Specifically, this seems to be Muslims, and a conversation within Muslim communities which respects the theological view that God does not exist does not seem to be happening today.
If we reach a point that Muslim communities accept closeted atheists born into their communities, and some such Atheists openly deny God’s existence while choosing to wear a hijab, I will completely concede this point to you. But there are no signs of such interpretations within Mainstream Islam today. - I completely agree that the show should address modern cultural problems with an idealistic portrayal of what it’s like in the future. But the show does this already, to a large degree: Simply in an anti-religious manner. Religions, including Ancient Human ones and accidentally incepted ones, are shown to be the results of primitive understandings of natural or extraterrestrial events. We don’t need to portray descendents of modern day people of faith as people of faith in order to establish that such descendents exist and are happy: Alexander Siddig’s character Dr. Bashir is one such example of a positive portrayal of someone of Arab descent. The actor himself favored not making his identity the primary definition of his character, and didn’t feel doing so was a good idea. Captain Robau, portrayed as the self sacrificing captain who enabled Kirk’s survival in the 2009 Star Trek film is another, more recent example.
- True, the chapel existed. But for what it’s worth, we never saw Crosses or any other signs of human religion within it.
- True.
- The pan-cultural utopia you are suggesting is an admiral goal for today’s society to reach. But ultimately, with any competitive meme, be it genetic, specious, religious or other: Equilibrium is temporary, fixation is inevitable. One day, all humans on Earth will have the same religious beliefs: And non-religion seems the most likely long-term evolution based on recent trends. It may not happen in 200 years, 2,000 years or 20,000 years: but some belief about the nature or lack thereof God’s existence will eventually be reached. Either this is some form of apocalyptic occurrence, or it is a natural Utopian development: But it is inevitable.
Thanks for reading, and for the insightful response!
