I was contemplating this last night watching Battle Star Gallactica.

<Spoiler Alert for my TiVo friends>
The merry little band of explorers and killer robots unite to find Earth.

They find Earth! Yay! Many, many minutes of hugging and high-5s (both traditions apparently alive and well centuries from now…like the way we still curtsy). “It’s Earth, it’s Earth”, we’re all saved. Our religion has been fulfilled as was predicted. Yeah, Earth.”

Then they fly down (no beaming?) and find out Earth was destroyed a couple of thousand years earlier due to nuclear warfare. The whole planet is a radioactive landfill. Crap! Much wailing and gnashing of teeth. People try to kill themselves, people kill themselves, and the rest just go nuts. Their hope is gone. The ugly, undeniable truth of the matter is that their quest is finished and has been shown to be a farce. battelstar

Worse, their religion has been totally and irrefutably shown to be a sham. They have to face a reality that disproves their previous belief system completely and finally. Which is where I started thinking about what real people in our real world would do if something happened that once and for all ended all speculation that gods could exist. What if some natural artifact was discovered that undeniably discredits theism worldwide? That’s what the folks on Battle Star Gallactica had to deal with. The president even burns the little Bible-like book they had for their religion.

Another thought: what if god did appear one day in the sky, visible from any place on Earth, unexplainable by any natural means, and it turned out this god was completely different than any human has been able to imagine? How deep would be the shock to their system (and let’s admit it, many of ours as well). Many would become suicidal and homicidal, not because that’s a typical atheistic reaction, but because these people believe that non-believers are free to do anything and they don’t have any morals other than those they endured by force of their former belief. I think atheists underestimate the number of truly nasty people out there we’ve been spared from seeing due solely to their belief in a punishing god. Once that limiting force is removed they’ll act out all their repressions.

For once, thought-provoking television. And they said it could never happen.