"While Starfleet has always been respectful of other culture's religions, it has never been respectful toward religious symbols or practices of its own members. Once you join Starfleet, you are expected to drop all religious practices." - Memory Alpha Wiki

I have often played a character (Bob) who is a conscientious objector. But it has been suggested to me that Starfeet would not allow such a person to be in starfleet.

Thoughts from those into star trek on the concept of religion and the Federation?

...don't know that I've ever actually seen that statement before and, honestly, I don't know that I've ever seen/heard any supporting evidence in any of the Trek series of films that indicates that this is, in fact, the case.

I seem to recall various scenes throughout the franchise in which one person or the other was observing what might be considered religious customs... The wedding of Lwaxana Troi, for example, in which the wedding party and guests were all supposed to be nude (due to cultural/religious customs, I assume) is one example...

I don't know, dude... that statement and the concept of the UFP being a 'utopian' type of society just kind of rub up against one another in a really uncomfortable fashion. I can see Starfleet saying "don't ram your own religious views down the throats of others" but I can't get behind the idea that they'd out and out forbid their ranks from staying true to their faith.

Just my two bits... I could be wrong.

Also, if Starfleet did put the kibosh on it's rank-and-filers observing their religious devotions, why were there so many scenes in which they did the "burial at sea" bit, loading the fallen into flag draped coffins/torpedo casings and launching them out into space (or the Genesis planet, in Spock's case)?

Apparently there are a couple of references to the Bajoran earing as a holy symbol and starfeet regulations stating you could not wear them. I think that the rest may have been inferred.

I can see there being a regulation against displaying holy symbols, etc, whilst in uniform. There's historical precedence for that, I think... always been regulations as to what is and isn't appropriate when in uniform/on duty. Off duty and out of uniform, though, I don't think there's really any way for that to be completely quashed... or even regulated.

I call hogwash. Starfleet is regularly depicted as bending over backwards to accomodate cultural diversity, of which they typically lump in religious views. Worf's Kligon sash was clearly non-uniform, but was allowed. The Bajoran earring thing doesn't fit canon, to me, unless it really is a form of preaching.

In my trekverse, this is a nonissue. Were a starfleet officer to be actively seeking converts while on duty, that might be an issue. Otherwise, no.

To me, Lieutenant N'Doog's conscientous objector status is handled much like the real life military - he's put in a non-combat role. Issue solved.

I can't see that he would be allowed to pass command training, since line officers do have to use force from time to time, but there's no reason that an engineer would have to make such a choice.

For the intents and purposes of the Discovery game, I reserve my right as GM to rule that this is a non issue. My starfleet is a bit more formal than the one frequently depicted on TV, so I feel fine making this ruling.

More thinking aloud than planning to change Bob. Heck, I can't change Bob. He is the dude's dude.

I agree with the no command and such though - makes sense.

I never figured that you'd change him. I'm simply affirming that, in my mind, he's a solid Trek character concept. To say nothing of the fact that he's a blast to read.

... "Shyaaaa! Yer harshin' my mellow, Jackiedude! Ease down on the mad frown, dude, cuz I'm all sweet dreams and moonbeams..." ?

Huh?


Where?

I think the absence of religion for the most part from Star Trek was due to Gene Roddenberry’s own beliefs. It is said he was a agnostic and he made it known to the writers of ST and STNG that religion were not to be included and that his vision of the future Earth was that everyone were atheist and better for it.

I also think that most shows in general, unless they are shows about religion, tend to stay away from that subject as so many people have varying views that religious topics can easily offend someone.

As an interplanetary organization, Starfleet is bound to have encountered a vast variety of cultures and religions. Take earth for instance. It's only one planet and there is however many cultures and belief systems. Now multiply that by x where x is some arbitrary value between 1 and infinity, because the setting has an infinite universe setup.

Now, Starfleet promotes interplanetary harmony among its members. Consequently, that requires a commitment to understanding and equality. Therefore, upholding a strict enforcement to regulate a specific way of life among its officers is rather counter intuitive and grounds by which to provoke disharmony. By contradiction, this can not be the case.

To conclude, I think that the absence of belief systems on the ships in the actual show are more due to producer choices than as a result of continuity. Wouldn't be out of place for there to be some regulations that cause some belief systems to be disallowed while on duty, but this would be due to practicality, not an enforcement.

The actual quote may just be 'wikipedia magic' misinterpreting or misquoting. Or the producer providing it by some choice based on external factors, not necessarily continuity.

And Bob is awesome. QED.