Babylon 5: Believers
Sep. 8th, 2010 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yvi posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
atheist_fandomDoes anyone else here sometimes start shouting at the screen when religion comes up on? I started watching babylon 5 a few weeks back and one of the last episodes, "Believers" managed to do that. I am really disliking the main maile character by now, but getting the impression he is supposed to be likable.
Basic story: A child is sick and could be saved by surgery, but the parents don't want that because it will destroy their child's soul. The ship commander forbids the child to be operated on, the doctor does so anyway and then the parents kill the child because it is now without soul. (And I don't remember seeing whether they are being judged for that)
Quotes:
Franklin: What if there is no God at all?
Sinclair: Is that what you believe?
Franklin: I believe in saving lives. Without life the question is meaningless.
Sinclair: But life has to be more then a pulse beat. What we hold sacred gives our life meaning.
*
Franklin: May God save us from false religion.
Sinclair: What makes a religion false? If any religion is right, then maybe they all have to be right. Maybe God doesn't care how you say your prayers just as long as you say them.
Franklin: What if there's no God at all?
I don't mind my shown mentioning religions. What I mind are whole episodes where I distinctly get the impression that the character defending other people's religious rights to unnecessarily let their child die is supposed to be the "right one", while the one who even dares to say "What if there's no God at all?" is supposed to be the intolerant one, trying to infringe the family's freedom of religion. I know I am sensitive when it comes to this, but damn, this wasn't handled well.
I'd also be really interested to hear from people who know Babylon 5 whether Dr. Franklin is actually portrayed as an atheist later in the series.
Basic story: A child is sick and could be saved by surgery, but the parents don't want that because it will destroy their child's soul. The ship commander forbids the child to be operated on, the doctor does so anyway and then the parents kill the child because it is now without soul. (And I don't remember seeing whether they are being judged for that)
Quotes:
Franklin: What if there is no God at all?
Sinclair: Is that what you believe?
Franklin: I believe in saving lives. Without life the question is meaningless.
Sinclair: But life has to be more then a pulse beat. What we hold sacred gives our life meaning.
*
Franklin: May God save us from false religion.
Sinclair: What makes a religion false? If any religion is right, then maybe they all have to be right. Maybe God doesn't care how you say your prayers just as long as you say them.
Franklin: What if there's no God at all?
I don't mind my shown mentioning religions. What I mind are whole episodes where I distinctly get the impression that the character defending other people's religious rights to unnecessarily let their child die is supposed to be the "right one", while the one who even dares to say "What if there's no God at all?" is supposed to be the intolerant one, trying to infringe the family's freedom of religion. I know I am sensitive when it comes to this, but damn, this wasn't handled well.
I'd also be really interested to hear from people who know Babylon 5 whether Dr. Franklin is actually portrayed as an atheist later in the series.
