Religion in the Twelve Colonies (RDM)
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There are too many to bother wasting our time listing. So here's a list of pages that link here. The religion of the Twelve Colonies, which the various characters of Battlestar Galactica practice to greater or lesser extent, is a polytheistic faith shared with real-life Greek mythology, with a strong emphasis on the philosophy of eternal return.
Origin
There is substantial circumstantial evidence that people of Kobol originated on Earth, and it is also known that one of the thirteen tribes later returned there. The similarity in beliefs of the Colonials and the ancient Greeks is probably not coincidental, although it is not yet clear which gave rise to the other. See History of the Twelve Colonies and Sacred Scrolls for a more detailed analysis.
Belief
The Lords of Kobol
Colonial religion is centered on the Lords of Kobol, analogous to the Greek Gods. So far within the series, a total of seven Lords of Kobol have been identified:
- Zeus - The father of the gods. Tom Zarek has twice referred to Commander Adama as "Zeus" (Bastille Day, The Farm).
- Apollo - His son, said to be the god of the hunt and of healing (Bastille Day).
- Artemis - (Flesh and Bone)
- Aphrodite - (Flesh and Bone)
- Athena - Comitted suicide "out of despair over the Exodus of the thirteen tribes" (Home, Part II). Her tomb holds a map to Earth. (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I)
- Hera - (Home, Part II)
- Zephyr - (Fragged) - A ship in the fleet was named after this god.
If the trend of using the Greek Gods continues, the others could be counterparts to the rest of the Olympian Gods: Demeter, Hermes, Hestia, Ares, Dionysus, Poseidon, and Hephaestos. Hera and Hades, while not Olympians, also figure prominently in Greek legends.
According to the Sacred Scrolls, the gods once shared a paradise-like existence with the people of Kobol. Later circumstances forced the exodus of the human population of Kobol to the Twelve Colonies and Earth, and lead to Athena's suicide. See History of the Twelve Colonies for more.
The existence of the Lords of Kobol is attested to by the survival of numerous artifacts, including the Arrow of Apollo, the Tomb of Athena and the Gates of Hera. However, although she accepts their historicity, Sharon Valerii, a Cylon, has called their divinity into question.
The Cycle of Time
"All this has happened before, and all this will happen again."
According to Gaius Baltar, this line from the Pythian Prophecy is very well known (The Hand of God). Laura Roslin later expands on it, reminding Kara Thrace,
- "If you believe in the gods, then you believe in the cycle of time that we are all playing our parts in a story that is told again, and again, and again throughout eternity" (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).
The notion of a circular progression of time (also known as eternal return or eternal recurrence) is foreign to the ancient Greek religion in which the Lords of Kobol have counterparts. However, it is a common theme in other faiths, particularly Mayan mythology. Various events throughout the series have led some characters to believe that they are playing out another turn of this cycle. See Sacred Scrolls for more detailed analysis.
Individual Practice
The Colonials display a wide spectrum of religious practice, ranging from Billy Keikeya's atheism (as suggested by Ronald D. Moore) to Corporal Venner's literalist readings of the Sacred Scrolls. Colonials express their faith in a number of ways.
Idols
At the end of the episode "Flesh and Bone", Kara Thrace, a devotee of Artemis and Aphrodite (as stated by Leoben Conoy in the same episode), prays to them on Conoy's behalf using figurines that bear a similarity to classic representations of Artemis and the goddess Athena. Artemis is depicted with her bow and arrow, and Athena with her helmet of war.
Rosaries
When Roslin begins to suffer from Chamalla withdrawl in "Fragged", Corporal Venner, a fundamentalist from Gemenon, anxiously clutches a set of white prayer beads.
Group prayer
Some prisoners on the Astral Queen seeking rehabilitation have turned to group prayer. In the episode "The Farm", they greet Laura Roslin as a prophet and she provides them with a blessing.
Artifacts
Despite Gemenon's fundamentalist climate, the city of Delphi on Caprica was apparently of a mind to store an important religious artifact, the Arrow of Apollo, in a museum, rather than a devotional institution.
The Priesthood
The separation of church and state is less rigorous in the Colonies than in the contemporary United States. Laura Roslin is sworn into the presidency by a priest, Elosha, who continues on in an advisory capacity within Roslin's administration. Priests also preside over military funerals, without regard for the beliefs of the deceased. That this is a matter of course is perhaps indicative of the religious homogeneity of the colonies.
Priests in the Twelve Colonies are apparently not required to practice celibacy, as in some Judeo-Christian denominations. In the episode "Resistance", Chief Galen Tyrol states that his father was a priest and his mother an oracle. Like denominations on Earth, it is possible that there are varying kinds of priests and customs that share elements of worship of the Lords of Kobol, with some subtle or significant differences. It is probable that, based on their devotion, a Genemon priest (in comparison to one, say, on Caprica) may have a more defined worship or celebration process, or may speak or pay more respects to one or a handful of Lords in preference over others, as Kara Thrace devoted prayer to her specific Lords. The contrast would be akin to the Catholic, Episopal, and Lutheran churches of real-world Earth.
According to Billy Keikeya, some priests use the Chamalla plant for its hallucinogenic properties. The prescient dreams it imparted to Laura Roslin may imply the use of something similar by Pythia, an ancient prophet.