‘Religious Discourse in Lost and Battlestar Galactica‘

Lost and Battlestar Galactica, two hugely popular science-fiction television series, both interrogated religious certainties as an integral, arguably essential element of their overall stories. While the theological inquiry proffered by these shows was often received and rejected without consideration for what the writers were trying to articulate, both Lost and BSG had profound messages to communicate about life, belief, community, and the dangerous tendency of organised religions to divide humanity into ideological factions rather than unite people into truly accepting societies.

This chapter investigates the divisive reception of both series, exploring the dialogues about religion which they attempted to open with pop cultural audiences. It considers the purpose behind Lost and BSG’s use of heretical notions such as apathetic deities, resurrections that are not, and the deliberate collision of contemporary belief systems with archaic or esoteric forms of worship. It demonstrates how the theological underpinnings of Lost and BSG are more coherent, and indeed more important, than generally accepted.