Season three of Battlestar Galactica is boldly going where polite society won’t.  The first 3 episodes of the third season have started opening a curtain behind which there certainly may be religious mysteries, and perhaps even evidence of the existence of the Almighty.  This is science fiction storytelling at its very best.

“There is no God but God” is the English translation of what is arguably the most famous Arabic Islamic phrase from the Muslim religion.  The phrase in Arabic, Assalamu `alaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu, is found prominently inscribed on The Dome of The Rock in Jerusalem but more importantly, that phrase is the first and foremost thing that Muslims believe about God (Allah).

Should viewers of any faith be surprised to find that phrase – “there is no God but God” –uttered in episode 3 of season with crucial prominence in the story?  The phrase was spoken by an alien leader whose organized religion holds a single deity as central to her life and to the lives of her fellow aliens. 

Note that the word aliens in this context must be understood to mean the Cylons on Battlestar Galactica.  The Cylons are frequently referred to by human beings as machines, and sometimes even Cylons refer to other Cylons as machines.  But, this is not accurate.  The most accurate term is synthetic life form–that is, Cylons are a life form that was created by human beings deliberately; Cylons most definitely do not occur, and would not occur, in nature without being manufactured by someone.  Cylons, of course, learned how to manufacture additional Cylons because they have not (yet) learned how to sexually reproduce (but that’s a subject for another blog post!)

Due to their industrial origins, the humans have a nasty habit of referring to the Cylons as toasters.  This pejorative term originated from the fact that the first Cylons manufactured by humans looked decidedly like shiny and silvery robots whose outer skin is reminiscent of how a toaster looks.  When a human calls a Cylon a toaster, it is a very prejudicial thing.  It is meant to convey great disrespect.  Yet, the word toaster has come to be interchangeable with Cylons, both the humanoid variety and the shiny, silvery robotic kind. 

Despite the fact that these alien life forms were created by humans, the Cylons nevertheless developed their own organized religion that differs substantially from the organized religion of the humans.  Does it follow that the one held to be known as God by the Cylons is also a toaster?

How can a machine, or, excuse me, a synthetic life form, have its own organized religion?  Does is not seem at first glance that the synthetic life forms merely created their own deity?  Did the Cylons invent a toaster God?

Not surprisingly, the humans on Battlestar Galactica mock the organized religion of their creation, the Cylons.  In contrast to the Cylons’ one true God, the humans on Battlestar Galactica believe in many gods as did the ancient Greeks and Romans on our planet.  The humans on Battlestar Galactica scoff at what they do not understand, so it follows that they would mock the one true God as well.  And they do.

But, it seems true that Battlestar Galactica is saying to us that the synthetic life forms most likely had to create their own God, who most likely is going to turn out to be as synthetic as they are.  How can life forms create their own God?  And why would they do so?  Why do sythetic life forms need a deity at all?  Does it not make the whole concept of deity rather suspect? 

Equally puzzling is why do the humans on Battlestar Galactica, who are shown to be smart with advanced technology, insist on believing in many gods instead of the one true God?  How smart or advanced can someone be who insists on believing in many gods?  On the other hand, how smart or advanced can Cylons be since they apparently had to create their own God?

These are all deep and troubling questions that season three of Battlestar Galactica has started asking the viewers to ponder.  This is certainly going to be a most compelling season.