A viewer recently sent us the following email, regarding our recent “Star Trek and Atheism” episode:
Excellent program on STAR TREK. How about a similar show about LOST, which was the opposite of everything STAR TREK stood for? It mocked science and reason, exalted superstition and was enormously popular and successful. I can say this because I was a fan for all its six years, even though I took issue with its rabid, almost fanatical, anti-science attitude. If you need info on it I’ll be more than glad to provide you with information, or you can look up the hundreds of LOST videos scattered all over YouTube for additional data.–WalterLet me say, Walter, that I too am a huge fan of the show Lost, but I can’t say that we have a “Lost and Atheism” episode planned any time soon.
Star Trek is unique in that it was created by a self described atheist to be his vision of an ideal secular humanist utopia. To have this happen anywhere in fiction is unusual, but to have it be the case for a cultural icon and juggernaut like Star Trek is something we felt was worth addressing.
What we don’t want to do is simply create an atheistic commentary track to all of our favorite shows. While Lost certainly dealt with issues of faith, belief and other mysticism, it doesn’t have the foundation as a specifically atheist show that Star Trek had at its very core.
However, we do have a sequel to “Atheists in Fiction” coming up in late August or early September, and Dr. Jack Shephard of Lost – an implied atheist – will likely be one of the characters profiled.
