you know how may times Doctor Mccoy used the phrase My god Jim in the original series and original series movies? To many to count.

The OG sidekick never gets any respect.

“Time for another colorful metaphor.”

Here’s another bit, also from Memory Alpha:

At least some humans, even members of Starfleet, still practice human religions. Wasn’t there an episode of TOS where Kirk is performing a wedding and the bride and groom are different faiths or sects? It’s been a while, so I might be misremembering.

So here’s a bit of after-the-fact rationalizations-via-retcons:

Yeah, but to be fair the original Star Trek made a number of specific references to belief in a capital-G God and at least one direct reference to Christianity (Uhuru at the end of “Bread and Circuses”).

Kirsten Beyer needs to go watch TOS episode Bread and Circuses written by Roddenberry. I don’t think the idea was ever that there was no religion but that people had moved beyond the pettiness of squabbling over dogma and were more respectful of each others beliefs.

No. That line makes sense, Kirk is standing in the presence of a being claiming to be a God. It’s completely different from an invective spoken unthinking by a society that does not have worshipers of any gods around.

Ahem…

A counter quote from the greatest Doctor:

That kind of ignores the backstory of Star Trek involving a nuclear World War 3 in which we nearly wipe ourselves out or the many ways that shows like Deep Space 9 and the better episodes of the other shows break down the effort it takes to actually live up to ideals in the face of forces that might break them down.

Star Trek is an idealized hope for humanity that isn’t beyond our reach. Kirk turns impossible situations into positive outcomes because he refuses to give in to what the Adam Savages expect of us.

I always thought that attitude was a cop-out. If you say the problems can’t be solved, then why bother trying in the first place? The lesson from utopias isn’t that if we sit there things will get better by themselves, it’s that we can make things better.

Star Trek lures you into a false sense of positivity that the world can be a utopia and recent events have proven it cannot. Star Wars’ dystopic vision is far more realistic and prepares our children for their future.

Has he watched Star Trek., right? Yes, the technology is advanced and there are some societal advantages...but, I’m sorry. The Federation is no utopia. In many ways the politics of Star Trek mirrors our own in how nations (or a variety of galactic empires) with different principles are forced to interact. It’s far…

Oh, that’s just bullshit. No, humanity will never live in a Star Trek future, but we can still aspire to it. That’s life, right there- setting a great goal, a goal you may never hit, and doing your best to get there. I don’t want to live in Star Wars’s universe. I’d like to live in Star Trek’s. I’m not actually going…

Recent events have NOT proven it “cannot”... they’ve only proven that it “isn’t”. Wth Adam? I expect better reasoned logic from you.

Stak is not about blind hope. It’s about hope after tragedy. Think about it’s very origin. When the whole world was fearing nuclear destruction, Roddenberry took a different spin. Humanity may very well devastate itself through war...but it will rise up beyond it into something greater. That’s the message Star Trek…

I don’t know why, but this feels appropriate. Hope is not just a word. Hope, and giving and getting hope, can literally mean the difference between life and death.