I would like to ask for the addition of a chapel to the Star Base, a place of spiritual understanding. Something non-dominational. Can't be offending anyone.
There have been times of grief in my real life where I retreated to sacred places in the virtual world. Seems this place could use some of the same.
Anyone else have any ideas or something to add to this suggestion?
This could be an idea for one of the featured 200K dilithium things.
While I understand the idea, since some ST species are higly spiritual, such a place would fail IMO. The DS9 temple is dedicated to the Prophet, and nothing else. But nothing else. There is (probably) thousand of beliefs in the galaxy. A single place for all of them would be useless, as some may require peace, others noises, some a lot of people, some being alone... For example the Vulcan like being alone to meditate, but it's not true for every species.
It would be like trying to make a temple for every cult on Earth, it's a good idea, but impossible to do.
Was just thinking what has become of earth religons in this time (well earlier in the week anyway)
My guess is it's flourishing, though likely not as widespread as it is today. Since Earth is a utopia where hunger is gone, need is extinct, and hate is purely personal where it exists at all, it stands to reason that no religion would see any reason to hate another, and thus there would be peaceful coexistence.
The continued rise of science would of course precipitate the rise of atheists, but humanity's newfound goals of personal realization and pursuit of one's loves rather than one's needs is equally conducive to a religious pursuit should one decide that it what makes one happy.
At any rate, to the OP: I don't think it would really be worth the time to make a chapel in STO. The religious centers in-game now are related to canon flavor and have been seen before, or their respective religions fairly well expounded upon so as to make including them sensible. We get neither of those things from Earth religion, and not enough from other species' belief systems to make a "religion-neutral" building worthwhile. If it were added, it would be a strictly RP thing - moreso than the Academies, one of which at least has some canon precedent.
Honestly it'd be a waste of environment dev time that could be spent on, say, a new ship interior, or a new ground zone with some content attached, or things like that.
The TOS Enterprise had a chapel. It was in several episodes; for instance, Balance of Terror. Since that episode introduced the Romulans, May would be a perfect time to introduce it.
Technically, the Enterprise had TWO chapels, but one of them was a room, and the other was a nurse.
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By the time of Star Trek, religion would be a personal thing and not something embraced by the Federation. TOS was a little different, the federation was relatively new. But meeting 1000s of species would be rather humbling on one's concept of God.
If people want a personal place of worship on a Federation starship or starbase they have their personal quarters and they have the holodeck. When characters do worship, that is where you see them do so. Aside from DS9, which is a Bajoran station. You will likely not find an endorsed chapel on a starbase or starship in the tng era.
The only religious human I can recall in the TNG era is Chakotay. Maybe O'Brien. Most humans are likely either atheistic or at least agnostic and non-religious.
I'm with the OP. A little religion, whatever it may be in Star Trek, would be nice.
Not sure how it could be implimented though.
I always took the moral of Trek, or TNG at least, to be that Humans had evolved beyond the need for religions. Trek is about hope and optimism and tolerance after all; not sure how a 'chapel' would fit in with that.
No. In Star Trek, religous people are always barbarian and primitive. Here you don't need gods so that your little mind can stay afloat. You born, you die, with no reason and have to be happy with that. It's supposed to work. Enjoy the 25th century.
In any other IP game the idea might be sound but not in a trek one.
Gene Roddenberry did not want religion in the show however he did on occasion allow non-denominational references (such as the chapel in enterprise) for story purposes on both the shows he was with.
this is a quote from the wikipedia site
"Although Roddenberry was raised as a Southern Baptist, he instead considered himself a humanist and agnostic. He saw religion as the cause of many wars and human suffering.Brannon Braga has said that Roddenberry made it known to the writers of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation that religion and mystical thinking were not to be included, and that in Roddenberry's vision of Earth's future, everyone was an atheist and better for it."
Personally I am an agnostic too and agree whole heartedly with what Roddenberrys vision with the above was. Plus with so few appearances of religious buildings/areas (Earth religion building/areas) it could be argued that its not canon
I'm a religious person IRL (to say the least), but I agree with the last couple of posters...there are no Earth religions in Star Trek. Though there was a room in Balance of Terror where a wedding took place, it was the Captain that performed the civil service, not a religious practitioner of any kind. A Bajoran or Vulcan officer might have part of their quarters set aside for meditation, but there shouldn't be anything formal. There definitely shouldn't be any Starfleet chaplains or the like.
Didn't Kirk take out Apollo in the Series? Then I think they smoked "GOD" with a disruptor blast in the face from a BOP in the movies. I would prefer they fixed bugs in this game, but I suppose another area less used than the Temple to the prophets on DS-9 would be OK. Gives a place for the RPers to marry each other, so I get spared an hour of their mush talk in local chat.
I always took the moral of Trek, or TNG at least, to be that Humans had evolved beyond the need for religions.
An that is the worst part of the Star Trek ethos- that part of "Gene's vision" I thoroughly and completely reject.
So, putting in Earth religions would then bring in the notion of how they would react to all the various "discoveries" of the Trek universe, so ... perhaps not mentioning them at all would be the best option overall
Gene Roddenberry himself is said to have rejected the idea of religion lasting into Humanity's future. Ronald D. Moore commented regarding the fate of specific religions in Trek history: "Gene felt very strongly that all of our contemporary Earth religions would be gone by the 23rd century, and while few of us around here actually share that opinion, we feel that we should leave this part of the Trek universe alone." (AOL chat, 1997) "It was a core tenet of Gene's Trek." (AOL chat, 1997)
Brannon Braga said that "In Gene Roddenberry's imagining of the future [...] religion is completely gone. Not a single human being on Earth believes in any of the nonsense that has plagued our civilization for thousands of years. This was an important part of Roddenberry's mythology. He, himself, was a secular humanist and made it well-known to writers of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation that religion and superstition and mystical thinking were not to be part of his universe. On Roddenberry's future Earth, everyone is an atheist. And that world is the better for it."
Although there have been some examples of religious humans (the hat comes off every now and then), religion appears to be pretty much dead amongst technologically advanced races in the Trek universe. The only truly religious race in Star Trek is the Bajorans, and they just have to grow up and realize the beings they worship aren't even close to being gods.
An that is the worst part of the Star Trek ethos- that part of "Gene's vision" I thoroughly and completely reject.
So, putting in Earth religions would then bring in the notion of how they would react to all the various "discoveries" of the Trek universe, so ... perhaps not mentioning them at all would be the best option overall
Atheism and Agnosticism are fast growing in our society. For a unified world government to exist, the majority of people in even the most religious countries in the world would have to become either atheistic or agnostic. Differing beliefs is one of the leading causes (if not the primary leading cause) of war and violence in this world.
There is no way the Federation would exist if enough of the world were religious to support a chapel on a startbase, and there is no way to have a chapel without favoring one religion over others. What symbolism does it have in it? With no symbolism it is just a closet.
This is what holodecks are for. This is an era when people think and do for themselves and have whatever they need at the push of a button, they do not need others to build a special room just for them. The whole idea is absurd.
In the next few hundred years humanity will either be predominantly atheist or a theocracy, our growing population and scientific understanding only supports one or the other. And a Theocracy requires some libraries to be burned down. The Star Trek Universe is clearly not the latter.
No, a chapel has no place on a Federation starbase and it was established both in and out of universe that religion was non-existant or extremely limited in the Federation.
The game already has Temples where you can have a "religious experience" - Although, why you dont just go to a real chapel if your hard up for religion is a rather good question.
There is precedent for a non-denominational chapel in Star Trek.
While Organized Religion as we know it seemed passe by the 24th Century, spirituality certainly wasn't and was touched on quite a number of times in TNG and on.
I don't see why there can't be a chapel space for players to have Weddings and Funerals, I don't think the idea is innately religious at all.
Here is a render someone did of the chapel form Balance of Terror:
An that is the worst part of the Star Trek ethos- that part of "Gene's vision" I thoroughly and completely reject.
So, putting in Earth religions would then bring in the notion of how they would react to all the various "discoveries" of the Trek universe, so ... perhaps not mentioning them at all would be the best option overall
Again, I'm not an atheist either, but this is a fictional universe setting. I don't want to see religion presented here any more than I want to see a synagogue or a crucifix in LotRO. If Cryptic were to decide to deviate from Trek canon so significantly as to bring back Earth religions, no matter how they treated them, they'd be bound to offend somebody with their interpretation or by including some and not including others.
Best policy is to stick to canon, and canon is: no religion on Earth.
There is precedent for a non-denominational chapel in Star Trek.
While Organized Religion as we know it seemed passe by the 24th Century, spirituality certainly wasn't and was touched on quite a number of times in TNG and on.
I don't see why there can't be a chapel space for players to have Weddings and Funerals, I don't think the idea is innately religious at all.
Here is a render someone did of the chapel form Balance of Terror:
Is that a chapel, or is that a performance space (like the one in TNG where musical performances and plays would take place) in which a lectern has been set up in order to hold a wedding? As I noted previously, there were no religious functionaries on the Enterprise, the Captain of the ship performed a civil service there. There are no Starfleet chaplains. Ships counselors perform the jobs traditionally assigned to chaplains in the present day Armed Forces.
Since there are no religious functionaries in the crew, and presumably not a ton of weddings that take place onboard ship (we've only seen a handful, and only the one in Balance of Terror on TOS took place in such a room), it seems to me far more likely that some kind of performance or briefing room was set up for the civil service, than that they have a room set aside unused except when a redshirt bites it and they happen to want a military funeral in space far away from said dead crewman's family and friends.
Comments
In trek the bajorans are about the closest to spirituality and gods that you can get !
Also, arguably, there's the structures on Vulcan.
However, I do rather like the OPs suggestion.
That doesn't mean we couldn't add those places to a starbase.
And more importantly, it should be separated from ESD zone chat.
It would be like trying to make a temple for every cult on Earth, it's a good idea, but impossible to do.
Not a bad idea I guess even if it doesnt play a major role in the current time
My guess is it's flourishing, though likely not as widespread as it is today. Since Earth is a utopia where hunger is gone, need is extinct, and hate is purely personal where it exists at all, it stands to reason that no religion would see any reason to hate another, and thus there would be peaceful coexistence.
The continued rise of science would of course precipitate the rise of atheists, but humanity's newfound goals of personal realization and pursuit of one's loves rather than one's needs is equally conducive to a religious pursuit should one decide that it what makes one happy.
At any rate, to the OP: I don't think it would really be worth the time to make a chapel in STO. The religious centers in-game now are related to canon flavor and have been seen before, or their respective religions fairly well expounded upon so as to make including them sensible. We get neither of those things from Earth religion, and not enough from other species' belief systems to make a "religion-neutral" building worthwhile. If it were added, it would be a strictly RP thing - moreso than the Academies, one of which at least has some canon precedent.
Honestly it'd be a waste of environment dev time that could be spent on, say, a new ship interior, or a new ground zone with some content attached, or things like that.
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Not sure how it could be implimented though.
R.I.P
Technically, the Enterprise had TWO chapels, but one of them was a room, and the other was a nurse.
If people want a personal place of worship on a Federation starship or starbase they have their personal quarters and they have the holodeck. When characters do worship, that is where you see them do so. Aside from DS9, which is a Bajoran station. You will likely not find an endorsed chapel on a starbase or starship in the tng era.
The only religious human I can recall in the TNG era is Chakotay. Maybe O'Brien. Most humans are likely either atheistic or at least agnostic and non-religious.
I always took the moral of Trek, or TNG at least, to be that Humans had evolved beyond the need for religions. Trek is about hope and optimism and tolerance after all; not sure how a 'chapel' would fit in with that.
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Gene Roddenberry did not want religion in the show however he did on occasion allow non-denominational references (such as the chapel in enterprise) for story purposes on both the shows he was with.
this is a quote from the wikipedia site
"Although Roddenberry was raised as a Southern Baptist, he instead considered himself a humanist and agnostic. He saw religion as the cause of many wars and human suffering.Brannon Braga has said that Roddenberry made it known to the writers of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation that religion and mystical thinking were not to be included, and that in Roddenberry's vision of Earth's future, everyone was an atheist and better for it."
Personally I am an agnostic too and agree whole heartedly with what Roddenberrys vision with the above was. Plus with so few appearances of religious buildings/areas (Earth religion building/areas) it could be argued that its not canon
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So, putting in Earth religions would then bring in the notion of how they would react to all the various "discoveries" of the Trek universe, so ... perhaps not mentioning them at all would be the best option overall
Although there have been some examples of religious humans (the hat comes off every now and then), religion appears to be pretty much dead amongst technologically advanced races in the Trek universe. The only truly religious race in Star Trek is the Bajorans, and they just have to grow up and realize the beings they worship aren't even close to being gods.
My opinion, religon is fiction. We are over developed monkeys, with an arrogant opinon of our own purpose in the cosmos.:rolleyes:
Atheism and Agnosticism are fast growing in our society. For a unified world government to exist, the majority of people in even the most religious countries in the world would have to become either atheistic or agnostic. Differing beliefs is one of the leading causes (if not the primary leading cause) of war and violence in this world.
There is no way the Federation would exist if enough of the world were religious to support a chapel on a startbase, and there is no way to have a chapel without favoring one religion over others. What symbolism does it have in it? With no symbolism it is just a closet.
This is what holodecks are for. This is an era when people think and do for themselves and have whatever they need at the push of a button, they do not need others to build a special room just for them. The whole idea is absurd.
In the next few hundred years humanity will either be predominantly atheist or a theocracy, our growing population and scientific understanding only supports one or the other. And a Theocracy requires some libraries to be burned down. The Star Trek Universe is clearly not the latter.
The game already has Temples where you can have a "religious experience" - Although, why you dont just go to a real chapel if your hard up for religion is a rather good question.
Keep religion out of where it dosent belong.
While Organized Religion as we know it seemed passe by the 24th Century, spirituality certainly wasn't and was touched on quite a number of times in TNG and on.
I don't see why there can't be a chapel space for players to have Weddings and Funerals, I don't think the idea is innately religious at all.
Here is a render someone did of the chapel form Balance of Terror:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6713486215_b0c1944962_b.jpg
Again, I'm not an atheist either, but this is a fictional universe setting. I don't want to see religion presented here any more than I want to see a synagogue or a crucifix in LotRO. If Cryptic were to decide to deviate from Trek canon so significantly as to bring back Earth religions, no matter how they treated them, they'd be bound to offend somebody with their interpretation or by including some and not including others.
Best policy is to stick to canon, and canon is: no religion on Earth.
Is that a chapel, or is that a performance space (like the one in TNG where musical performances and plays would take place) in which a lectern has been set up in order to hold a wedding? As I noted previously, there were no religious functionaries on the Enterprise, the Captain of the ship performed a civil service there. There are no Starfleet chaplains. Ships counselors perform the jobs traditionally assigned to chaplains in the present day Armed Forces.
Since there are no religious functionaries in the crew, and presumably not a ton of weddings that take place onboard ship (we've only seen a handful, and only the one in Balance of Terror on TOS took place in such a room), it seems to me far more likely that some kind of performance or briefing room was set up for the civil service, than that they have a room set aside unused except when a redshirt bites it and they happen to want a military funeral in space far away from said dead crewman's family and friends.