The Battlestar and the Bible

            It’s one of the most important shows on television for people to watch who want to understand our own times, a mirror of this culture we call post-modern even though it’s set on other worlds. It’s dark—Star Wars for a “post 9-11” age. Its focus is on people and their struggles rather than ideas and the fight for what’s right. It is the made-over-for-the-new-millennium science fiction series, Battlestar Galactica which begins its third season this month. And, along with many recent movies, it follows a very post-modern trend: looking for God through suffering and pain.

The Bad Guys’ God is the Good Guy?

            Religion matters from the beginning in the new Battlestar Galactica (BSG): polytheistic humans worship human-like gods, and monotheistic Cylons (a race of killer machines) follow a God like that of the Bible. The human gods of BSG come from Greek mythology: Zeus, Artemis, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena and Hera are named. But the content of humanity’s religion in the show is less important than the attitudes people have toward it, attitudes which mirror today’s culture; that is, those who are committed to their religion are few and usually considered extremist. The human religion is treated seriously in the series; however, the sincerity behind the Cylon religion is far more intense.

            Understand, though, why this is such an amazing plot twist: In the original series, the Cylons are the “bad guys” and the humans are the “good guys.” But in the new series it’s never clear that the Cylons really are evil. True, they commit genocide, destroying whole human nations, but so did the Israelites and at God’s command (see I Samuel 15). The Cylon God inspires passionate faith and monotheistic belief. He is fearful and transcendent but intimately involved in the affairs of ma(n)chine. He has a plan which brings about suffering but also resurrection. He apparently tells the Cylons to obliterate mankind, but He is described with language straight out of the New Testament as a God of love.

Why I Value the Cylon God

            I may be dead wrong about the Cylon God (and only future episodes will tell), but here’s my wild theory: perhaps the Cylons cause pain and hardship because they are agents of God (like angels of wrath) sent to force humanity out of its idolatry. Modern man put God on trial, demanding He prove His existence and defend His actions. But post-modern man is returning to an understanding that encounters with God are encounters with the awesome power of something mysterious, wholly other and potentially painful.

            The God of the Bible is a God of justice and mercy, light and truth. But even He draws us to painful encounters. Jacob wrestles with God throughout an entire night, and God knocks his hip out of joint for it. But He also blesses Jacob with a new name: Israel, the “God-wrestler” (Genesis 32).

            Moses says to God, “Let me see your glory,” asking God to let him see Him as He is—His full visible presence—rather than showing a mere manifestation in fire or cloud (Exodus 33:18). But Moses asks for more than he can bear. There is a beauty so strong that it can kill. Haven’t we all experienced it? Something so beautiful it hurt to look at: autumn in New England, beautiful today, gone tomorrow; a first glimpse of the Grand Canyon at dawn’s early light; or a wife whose sight draws desire from her husband at a glance and makes him believe the phrase “drop dead gorgeous” is literally true. That’s because it is. There is a beauty that can kill. In the Bible it’s called glory. When Moses asks God to let him see His glory, God replies that the sight of His face would kill Moses. So God tells him to stand in the cleft of a rock, and God passes by, covering Moses so he can’t see. Then God uncovers him, and Moses catches a glimpse of God’s back—it’s almost more than he can bear (Exodus 33:19-23).

Divine Encounter

            To encounter the Divine is to encounter pain, not because God is evil, nor even necessarily angry, but because He truly is Love. Poet-musician Rich Mullins called God’s love a “reckless, raging fury.”* We tend to think of God’s love in terms of parenting—the watchful father. The Bible uses this metaphor but also the stronger metaphor of romance. The Song of Solomon is a book of passion, of romantic love. In it, romance is defined with the same reckless fury (see 8:6). God is a passionate, consuming fire—His love as poetic and ecstatic as it is fatherly and moral. The otherness of Divinity portrayed in BSG copies the mystery and wonder—even in painful encounters—that we see in the Bible. In such experiences, God’s presence is terrible because God is terribly transcendent.

            Battlestar Galactica is not a show for children, and adult Christians will find offensive moments in the series (do your homework before deciding to watch or not—don’t just listen to me). But it does show that even the most secular of people can’t help but see God’s truth in His creation. For me, BSG offers a clear sign of hope: our culture is looking for God again. This show may help us help its fans find Him.

*Rich Mullins. “The Love of God.” Never Picture Perfect. Edward Grant, Inc., 1989.