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Originally Posted by PingPongBallEye
Well, for someone who believes they are hard to fathom and grasp, you don't seem to have any trouble defining them!
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Defining them in general terms, not in minute specifics, in which you presume them to be on the same level as normal because they "use a spaceship."
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Originally Posted by PingPongBallEye
I've measured my hypothesis against what was shown on the TV show. .
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Except that when you do this, you keep leaving out way too much that argues against your hypothesis of materialism/humanism, such as the not coincidental names used for the Devil figure of Iblis, the dialogue at the end of the episode, and the frequent references to belief in a single God as used by Adama and others in the series. This is where your attempts to argue that Galactica is humanist in the blatant humanist tradition of Star Trek does not IMO hold water, using that very same Occam's razor approach.
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Originally Posted by PingPongBallEye
Larson may well have intended to create a faith-based series; what I am saying is that he did not succeed..
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Sorry, but I can't accept this line of reasoning. "Original intent" is an idea that IMO works just as good for Galactica as it should for the U.S. Constitution (but that alas, opens up another can of worms that I won't get into), and if we don't respect the perspective of where the author comes from, we are not doing our own powers of analysis any justice.
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Originally Posted by PingPongBallEye
Consider the Biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt, clearly a source of inspiration for Saga of a Star World. When the armies of Pharoh come against Moses and the Hebrews, what happens? God parts the sea, allowing the Hebrews to escape, and then causes it to crash in again, crushing the Egyptians. When the wandering tribes need bread, manna falls from the heavens; when they need water, it flows from a rock. The core message is that deliverance comes through God, and He will provide it if His people only have faith.
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Or, conversely God lifts up people of faith to lead during times of crisis, who learn to overcome their inner sense of torment, as Adama did, and as Moses had to when he was at first reluctant to answer God's call even after hearing the message from the Burning Bush. Not every act of God in providing for his people appears through the form of what the mortal mind would call a miracle. What you keep calling a "human solution" conveniently ignores the fact that looking for a goal called Earth only rests in the form of placing faith in the truth of the Holy Word, and seeing as how the Galactica is able to safely proceed on its journey in spite of a ton of obstacles placed in their path over the course of a season's worth of stories, one can just as easily look back on the series as a whole and say God was there watching out for their safety and lifting up people of integrity to do what was necessary to help the people through times of crisis.
"I don't see any Mormon doctrine"
Sealing ceremonies, the Quorum of the Twelve concept, the SOL remarks.....the list I am afraid is quite numerous.
"I see no masses, hear no prayers. There are no hymns, no holy observances, no Divine commandments or religious laws. "
The Book of the Word, the hymn of praise filmed for Saga but cut. Adama holding his medallion to Tigh in LPOTG as "the symbol of our faith"..........
I think the evidence is there to vindicate the idea of Galactica as a series steeped in the pro-religion element, especially since it also presupposes the decidedly unhumanistic idea of mankind (1) not being able to prosper and "evolve" into a state where technology is the answer to everything. Consult the cut scene from LPOTG but present in the telemovie edition where the fall of Kobol is directly attributed to the abuse of technology. Consider Adama's comment in Saga where he sighs, "No wonder our world fell apart." The Colonies were at their most advanced, yet their technology and superior skills couldn't save them from destruction. That is anything but a vindication of the materialist argument.
