God

"God of Sha Ka Ree"

Q as "God"

For the being imprisoned in the center of the galaxy, please see God (Sha Ka Ree).

A god or deity was a being with principal religious significance. Gods were often perceived to have power over aspects of natural or spiritual existence, and may be the subject of worship or prayer. A multitude of gods have been developed by various cultures.

Cultural views

Human

On Earth, gods ranged from those with names and specific areas of expertise to the omnipotent God of Christianity and Judaism), to spirits believed extant within aspects of nature (paganism of various sorts), to powerful alien beings. An alternate name for God was the Lord, or when praying directly to him, simply Lord.

"Mankind has no need for gods. We find the one quite adequate."

– James T. Kirk, 2267 ("Who Mourns for Adonais?")

Often, one being's god was another being's myth. Sometimes, one being's god was merely another being's powerful alien, as was the case of many of the gods worshipped on Earth. This was the case with Apollo and Kukulkan. (TOS: "Who Mourns for Adonais?"; TAS: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth")

Some of Earth's benign gods had malign counterparts, the most well-known of which was called the Devil. (TNG: "Devil's Due")

Where a situation existed in which an individual had no other choice and had to kill to protect themselves or another, that individual might ask a God for forgiveness. In 2266, Doctor Leonard McCoy said, Lord, forgive me, before he killed the M-113 creature. The doctor was saving the life of Captain James T. Kirk. (TOS: "The Man Trap")

Certain concepts might also be idolized. Lenore Karidian described the play Hamlet as being about a time when "life was cheap and ambition was God.". (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")

Observing the monthly lunar sunrise was a religious experience for Dorian Collins. According to her, "I felt like I met God every morning." (DS9: "Valiant")

Bajoran

The Bajoran people worshiped their Prophets as gods, although to most non-Bajorans, the Prophets were simply powerful beings referred to as "wormhole aliens". For them Captain Benjamin Sisko was their "Emissary", the person who was chosen by the Prophets to lead the Bajoran spiritual life. (DS9: "Emissary", "In the Hands of the Prophets")

The malign counterpart to the Prophets were known to the Bajorans as the Pah-wraiths. Some Bajorans believed these counterparts to be the true gods of Bajor. (DS9: "Covenant")

D'Arsay

The mythology of the D'Arsay contained an epic drama involving Masaka, a sun goddess, and Korgano, a figure implied to be a moon god. Picard's dealings with this drama imply that Masaka was seen as a malign goddess, with Korgano as the benign counterforce that kept her in check. (TNG: "Masks").

Although not explicitly stated, Picard's allusion to the two as seemingly equivalent to the sun and the moon in Earth's history indicates the likelihood that the D'Arsay are polytheistic, or believe in more than a single god, much like the ancient Egyptians of Earth.

The Dominion

In the Dominion, the Jem'Hadar and Vorta viewed the Founders as their gods, whereas most other species saw them as merely changeling aliens. This view was genetically engineered into their design to ensure absolute loyalty. (DS9: "Hippocratic Oath", "To the Death", "Tears of the Prophets")

Edo

The Edo of Rubicun III worshipped an orbiting lifeform as their god. This lifeform considered the Edo its children, protecting and caring for them. (TNG: "Justice")

Klingon

The Klingons at one time had gods, but according to legend, the gods were slain by the Klingon warriors they had created (led by Kortar, the first Klingon) as "they were more trouble than they were worth." (DS9: "Homefront", "You Are Cordially Invited"; VOY: "Barge of the Dead")

Vulcan

The ancient Vulcans recognized a pantheon of gods, including the God of War and the God of Death. According to legend, the Stone of Gol was destroyed by the gods. (TNG: "Gambit, Part II")

In 2237, Spock, who had time-traveled from the year 2269 to avert his own death, posed as a pilgrim traveling to a shrine dedicated to "[the Vulcan people's] gods." (TAS: "Yesteryear")

Kelemane's species

During the late 2370s, the USS Voyager became trapped in orbit around a planet, where time on the surface moved at an accelerated rate. Some of the planet's ancient inhabitants were able to see the starship in the sky, and began to regard it as a deity or god, even setting aside a specific fruit which was only to be offered to the new deity, which they initially called the "groundshaker." Later on in Kelemane history, after they had developed telescope technology, they discovered that the "groundshaker" was actually a vessel, which they called the "Sky Ship." (VOY: "Blink of an Eye")

Godly encounters

In 2265, following an encounter with the Galactic barrier, Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner of the Federation starship Enterprise developed incredibly strong psionic powers. Mitchell, becoming completely mad with power, believed he had evolved to a God-like state and used his power to force Captain James T. Kirk to pray to him as one. Dehner, herself, lamented to Kirk that he had no idea what it's like to be almost a God. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")

In 2287, Sybok began the final leg in his quest to find God, whom he believed was located at Sha Ka Ree in the galactic core. It is however discovered that Sybok's god, though seemingly well versed in the Gods of the Universe, was in fact a malevolent entity who, himself, was on a quest to obtain a starship and leave his confinement. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

In 2369, Q claimed to Picard that he was in fact God when Picard was having a near death experience after being wounded. Despite Q's admittedly all-powerful nature within our plane of existence, Picard retorted, "No. I am not dead. Because I refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by you. The universe is not so badly designed." (Given the fact that this occurred while Picard was in a near-death state, however, it is possible that this was all an hallucination and Q never really made such a claim.) (TNG: "Tapestry") On Brax, Q was referred to as "The God of Lies". (DS9: "Q-Less")

Appendices

Additional references

• TNG:
  • "Justice"
  • "Who Watches The Watchers"

See also

• List of gods
• Kitchen Goddess

Background information

Gene Roddenberry was known to be a Humanistic Atheist or Agnostic and debunking both Human and alien gods and superstitions was a regular theme in his stories. Episodes such as TOS: "The Return of the Archons", "Who Mourns for Adonais?", "The Apple", TAS: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth", Star Trek: Phase II: "In Thy Image", and TNG: "Justice", showed a god is actually shown to be either an alien or a machine (or both). In an interview with StarTrekAnimated.com, scriptwriter David Gerrold complained that, "when in doubt, Gene always had Kirk get into a fight with God."

On the other hand, in the TOS episode "The Ultimate Computer", the M5 computer credited God as a source of the illegality of murder, and Kirk later repeated that credit.

External links

• God at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• God at Wikipedia