Isaiah Roman

Let Them Eat Cake…

The last episode of Battle Star Galactica aired last night. I’ve followed the series since it started and was fascinated by the writer’s attempts to interweave a somewhat-serious attempt at religion into the lives of their characters. Throughout the series we were serenaded with the usual battle between fuzzy-grey ethics and absolute right and wrong. Good guys became bad guys and vice versa. The permeation of eastern philosophy was evident, and the resulting representation of both a pseudo-monotheism (which never quite got to the heart of any form of real monotheism) and a pseudo-classical polytheism (which was never really expounded upon except that the “gods” were known to be historical humans) made for a strange conglomeration of religious concepts. Although the resulting depiction of religion was confused and mostly inaccurate, it was – I believe – a fairly accurate portrayal of the modern view most people have towards religion. While these two religious concepts were held as a major sub-plot throughout the bulk of the series, they suddenly became the focal point in the final episode.

As I pondered the episode this morning I was reminded of the phrase “have your cake, and eat it too.” As it turns out, God is nothing more than a detached force of will throughout the universe, with no specific identity, but with a specific purpose. There seemed to be no particular reason for this purpose, and yet all of the events leading up to the climax had a reason. When it was finally revealed that the characters had found themselves at our earth, some 150,000 years ago, we are lead to assume that our homo-sapiens forefathers were a combination of Cylon and Colonial humans, who happened to have interbred with the “local” humans; local humans who had mysteriously evolved with matching or compatible DNA with the alien humans.

Some banter in the film between two of the main characters even poses the suggestion that somehow this mysterious coincidence was part of God’s plan as well. Throughout the last episode there were angels who guided people to following this hidden plan, angels who’s actions were not necessarily good or bad, just expedient to the circumstance. In fact, one of the main characters, “Baltar” explains to us that good and bad are not part of God’s plan, but rather we invented both good and evil, and we are the force that can control, or unleash these two imaginary forces.

The hint is that both evolution and God coexist, that both panspermia and creation are the answer, and that both polytheism (from the Colonials) and monotheism (from the Cylons) began from these same central sources. We find that God is the author of the universe, and has a plan for it’s denizens, but that good and evil, right and wrong cannot be attributed to either the creation or the creator.

Unfortunately, these conditions are contradictory, and cannot stand together when examined by logic. I suppose the author’s true thrust was “can’t we all get along?” Perhaps they have seen too many of those “Coexist” bumper stickers where the letters are made up from all of the different religious symbols. But, why did they feel compelled to end the series with any note of monotheism? Why not choose the true atheist’s answer, which was provided by another of the characters in the series named Cavil, a Cylon. Cylons are nothing more than machines, created by man, who in turn are nothing more than biological machines, evolved from chance.

It seems to me that aside from what a few rabid atheists would like to promote, the common anti-God person is merely agnostic. They simply don’t know if there is, or isn’t a God, and most are inclined to believe that there is some force out there that remains unknown. Even the most common of persons gets the concept that the universe had a beginning, and if it began, then something caused that beginning. From there, however, most people are very comfortable making up their own concept of that being. The majority of all people, including many so-called Christians, borrow and blend from different philosophies and religions until they find a personal explanation that makes them feel comfortable, safe, or at least moderately satisfied as to the nature of “things.”

It is when you begin to challenge the psyche by making them realize that the cake has to either be eaten, or it will rot away that things go wrong. Some ignore, some even get angry, many eat some of the cake and end up throwing away the rest. It is a very select few that realize the cake must be eaten or the cake has no purpose, then continue to eat the cake, even when it has grown old, and stale. The Christ tells us a story similar to this in the parable of the sewing of the seeds.

Yet, there is something else to this episode that intrigues me.

The very fact that the writers felt compelled to address these issues is a hint that at least some of the message of Christianity, and in specific, creation, has been heard. It is an indication that in the minds of many, the idea that evolution alone is the solution to all of our ills has fallen a little flat after one hundred years of examination. People are now trying to justify religion to science in order to appease these gaps in reason. What is most unfortunate is that science should justify religion, and religion should justify science.  These two functions of the human mind should never have been at war with each other to begin with.

But, there are two possible outcomes to this reexamination.

If we allow the idea of Intelligent Design to continue, then what will come will be a new designation of deity. If ID remains unattached to any particular form of theism, then ID will generate it’s own non-specific form of theism. It is the nature of man to try to justify themselves, to create their own idea of god-hood. The very concept of this final episode of BSG shows one among many possible scenarios for a non-specific, non-personal deity who basically sets up a system and let’s things “roll.”

If, however, enough people, enough Christians, educate themselves as to the veracity;  the scientific evidences, the archaeology, the geology and the logic – which make the Bible unique among all other religious tomes and scripture perhaps a few more people will begin to understand the difference between the reality of Christianity, and the mythology of everything else.

If Christians could just take a small amount of time out of their lives to discover all of the many and varied resources available that show clearly that the Bible can be trusted from cover to cover, literally as history, and not philosophy, then perhaps – just perhaps – people will begin to see that there is only One God, who is a personal, loving God, and that He is the one who made the cake in the first place, and he is the one who’s grace makes it possible for us to eat.