Temple

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide

A temple is a place of worship for the Lords of Kobol in the Re-imagined Series.

The tribes that formed the Twelve Colonies had many temples on their worlds. A logical presumption is that the remnants of humanity that comprise the Fleet had opened temples aboard their ships for worship after their homeworld temples are destroyed by the Cylon attack. Clergy such as Brothers, Sisters, priests, and oracles are presumed to be the central celebrants during formal services and hold counseling there. Colonials can also visit temple on their own for private worship.

Temples may be named after a specific Lord or Lords. A temple on New Caprica in which the police killed 23 people is formally known as the Temple of Artemis (Collaborators).

New Caprica

On New Caprica, temples are created within tents. With the Cylon occupation of the planet, the human resistance uses a temple to hide what weapons they can gather in boxes that form an altar of a temple, knowing that the Cylons have respected the Colonials' sacred places and have not searched for weapons in temples.

A temple's altar may be decorated with stones, candles, tiny idols representing a Lord of Kobol, an piece of animal fur, and a dish containing polished stones, perhaps offerings to the gods from the meager resources that New Caprica provides. Temples were likely decorated more elaborately on the Twelve Colonies.

Nora repeatedly asks Duck to join her in temple in the hope for a child. Unfortunately, these hopes are dashed when the Cylons attack temple, killing Nora.

Sister Tivenan manages a temple on New Caprica, where she blesses the Tyrol's infant son, Nicholas Tyrol at his dedication ceremony (Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance).

Other temples

The descriptions of ancient Kobol tell of a Temple, located in the City of the Gods.

The Thirteenth Tribe created an expansive temple on an unnamed habitable planet known in the Sacred Scrolls as The Temple of Five. It is discovered mysteriously by Galen Tyrol, the son of a priest and an oracle (The Eye of Jupiter).

A temple has been made on Galactica herself. This temple is first seen on the occasion of Cally Tyrol's funeral service (Escape Velocity).

Notes

• On the real-world Earth, the word "temple" is derived from the Latin word templum (sacred place). The term is commonly used, formally and informally, by several religions as a name for their places of worship.
• In the United States, followers of Judaism speak of "going to temple" when attending services at their house of worship, the synogogue. Also, the faith of the LDS Church use "temple" as the name of their worship buildings, in contrast to the usage of the term "church" as the principal worship structure for other Christian faiths.