Star Trek

At first I was pretty annoyed. References of the Bible, Garden of Eden, Satan and God in TOS! At one point Kirk says "We don't need a God. Just the one is enough." And in metamorphosis, the companion says "that is for the maker of all things."  Really? Why would you need to include them? I am hoping Rodenberry and Coon and the legendary sci-fi writers who penned the stories were forced by the studios to include those line and they didn't really believe there's a "creator." 

i belive in god.

I have not seen all of the TOS series yet. As of currently I am still trying to finish season 1-3. Brent Spiner said that when Gene Rodenberry created the series he never wanted to involve religion in any of the series'. As I recall Gene Rodenberry used too be Christian but decided to be an Atheist instead.

I like when Spock quotes the Bible.

also the Enterprise Incident

Here's a concept - Maybe Rodenberry was such broad minded person that he could be an aetheist, agnostic, freethinker whatever and still depict people of faith or faith itself in a respectful manner

Bingo. 

Unfortunately, there are just as many whacko arrogant extreme atheists who will shove their narrow views down peoples throats as there are religious freaks. Case and point right here with this post. 

Star Trek preached tolerance of all beliefs and celebrated diversity. It didn't dictate atheism or support any particular religion. It only supported tolerance and acceptance /respect for multiple cultures and points of view. 

Unfortunately, one only has to read the bullschit on this board to see that about 80% of the franchises fans don't get that simple point.  

In Dagger of the Mind, Helen Noel(french for Christmas) recalls a past Christmas party where she and Kirk had gotten a little frisky together.

It bothers me a lot that all of the God references were stricken from the TMP director's cut. 

@randy - I have absolutely no issues with anyone's faith. I respect your beliefs. Freedom of religion is one of the basic founding pillars of this nation. It is also something that many other countries don't have and need to have! This is the land where you are allowed to start the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I was just wondering why they would have those references. Honestly, they seemed out of place to me. Can you imagine bible references in Star Wars? It would ruin the mythology. I thought (as pointed out by padracin) that they were trying to be inclusive of believers in a god, especially since this was in the 60s. I donn't think Roddenberry and Coon were themselves trying to propogate any religion, I figured they must have been agnostic/rationalists/atheists/free thinkers.

Excellent point. I was always irritated that Decker's defining line "of course, we all create God in our own image" was cut. Not only was that line indicative to one of the major themes of the story, but it was a nice tie-in to the title of the original script, "In Thy Image" that we know was the intended script for the Star Trek Phase 2 pilot. I looked everywhere for an explanation as to why it was cut. Never found one. Odd...

I honestly still don't get what you are trying to say. 

Also bible references would be out of place way more in Star Wars because that's supposed to be another time and place. Star Trek takes place in Earth's and therefore our future. So, the teachings of various religions and other literary classics of our culture are known to these people. In Star Wars they would not be. Bible references in Star Trek are no more odd than references to Moby Dick, Milton, or Shakespeare. I don't see the issue. sounds like we are looking for an excuse to have a controversial discussion. 

Well, the star fleet is an extension of the armed forces and hence it is not civilian. So, clearly the church/state separation would apply. Also, at that point of time, the Enterprise represents a United Earth, so if it were to be really inclusive of all religious viewpoints, it can't just refer to one religion. The world also atheists, buddhists, jews etc. 

The references (that I have seen in TOS Seasons 1 & 2) were not central to the plot and seemed like they were slapped on to the script for a strategic, not artistic reason.

Well, since Gene himself re-wrote a number of the first and second season scripts, I don't know what to tell you. No book I've ever written or interview ive ever seen on the creation of the Original Series has indicated any conspiracy by some outside force to secretly inject Christian messages into the series. Whatever was done was done purposefully and consciously by the creative team and writers. Again, not sure what your hang-up is here? What point are you trying to make exactly? What does "separation of church and state" have to do with anything? I must admit that I'm just getting more confused.