From http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Human_religion
Of course, there was the whole “prophets” vs “worm hole aliens” deal…
Picard: “You are not God! The universe could not be so poorly organised” - Or something very like it, as Picard, supposedly, wakes up in the afterlife.
IIRC, he mentioned that one god was enough. Although whether he that in a sarcastic manner is up for debate. The wedding we see in “Balance of Terror” seems to be secular as Kirk himself leads the ceremony. And talking of McCoy’s reference to the myth of genesis, in The Cage, Pike is told that his hellish illusion is from an old legend.
By the time we get to TNG, I would have thought that humans were a tad more cynical, having gone through more meetings with god-like aliens lording it over other races, to want to actual praise or worship them seems a bit much. Perhaps they might prove that one of these aliens created their universe for a larf, but I don’t think they’d worship him/her/it/them for it.
I just removed some errant trivia from the Wiki page on that episode that said Christmas was still celebrated, then noted below that office parties clearly haven’t changed at all 
B5 also had that ep in which the various cultures were presenting information about their religions and Sinclair brought representatives from all of Earth’s religions (along with a token atheist or two).
Notable thing about that scene: Every alien race had only one religion (and one language and one culture generally), while humans had a multiplicity. But that’s a hoary staple of SF – any alien species is presumed to be monocultural unless conflict between two or more of its cultures is part of the plot.
It’s like the planets the aliens elvolved on
are entirely desert or frozen over or something
That’s an over-extrapolation. I was countering a single assertion that generalized communism: “There’s no inherent relationship between communism (or socialism) and atheism”. I was not attempting to counter any assertions about any specific communist governments. I don’t even know if any were made.
KIRK: [raises hand] Um, excuse me. Why does God need a starship?
Maybe you should’ve answered that question before you undertook to direct this stinker of a movie, Shatner!
I agree that it’s a hoary trope and it’s been a while since I’ve seen the ep but wasn’t there dialogue that the aliens were presenting their major or dominant religion?
And it’s important to remember that “Parliament of Dreams” was a very early episode. In the course of the series we do see differences in the religious practices of the other species (the Minbari warrior caste is almost agnostic, as it has to be to be an effective balance to the religious caste; there are several varieties of Narn spirituality (and revelation is not closed for them…witness the Book of G’Kar); I would guess that there are independent denominations which focus on particular Centauri deities).
“From a fable you once heard in childhood.”
As for the Klingons, in the TOS episode “Day of the Dove,” the Klingon commander dude says that the Klingons have no devil. But in the TNG episode “Devil’s Due,” Ardra turns into Feklar. Go figure.
In that case, your counter makes even less sense than I gave it the benefit of, because as you probably know, there are explicitly Christian communisms, thus pretty well establishing the general idea that there is no inherent relationship.
My advice: read what people are talking about. It’s often worth it.
um
maybe I should get watch the series
There are also Atheists for Jesus, but that doesn’t mean they’re theists. If my counter makes no sense to you, then why comment on it at all? Why not ask a question instead, in order to clear up your understanding? An altered form of communism is an altered form of communism.
Feklar is described as something like “the guardian of the underworld” as I recall. That doesn’t automatically translate into “devil.” Any number of religions have gods with dominion over the realm of the dead who don’t equate with the Christian devil or Satan. Also re the Klingons, at Worf and Jadzia’s wedding the story is told that the first Klingon warrior slew the Klingon gods.
Not even slightly on point, but okay.
Again, because I just assumed that you wouldn’t play the True Scotsman game. You were the one who came in here, proudly asserting that you hadn’t read the thread and tossing Karl Marx into the fray (when no one else had been that specific). Communism as a system and a term is not limited to what Karl Marx wanted it to be: it existed as a term long before him, and developed in a hundred different directions during and after his life.
There is no reason to take seriously your assertion that Marx’s belief that religion was incompatible with communism as the only opinion that matters. It is particularly irrelevant in this thread when the two given examples of communism aren’t even countries that fit Marx’s picture of what communism “should be” either, in a thread devoted to discussing a potential FICTIONAL communism.
As to the general point, it is a plain fact of obvious practice that communism is not incompatible with religion. Not “altered” communism, but communism: “the political theory or system in which all property and wealth is owned in a classless society by all the members of that society.”
I agree with what’s already been written about Roddenberry’s hostility to organized religion. And the show’s writers, in each of ST’s incarnations, have generally steered clear of discussing humanity’s religious practices - if any - by the 2360s, which is when ST:TNG takes place. Too controversial for many viewers, and not germane to the typical ST episode. Vulcan, Bajoran and Klingon spiritualism and religious beliefs have all had a much more thorough examination than those of Earth.
The Federation, consistent with its democratic and individualistic precepts, protects religious freedom. From the on-screen evidence, though, it seems that most human beings of Picard’s era are either outright atheists or agnostic, or simply have a very private spiritual life. This is consistent with U.S. Navy practice - chaplains are prohibited from proselytizing aboard ship, IIRC, and must provide nondenominational prayers and services when among those of different faiths.
I think the overall issue on both religion and economics for the Federation is that not much thought or time is put into exploring either of them. I think in many cases, while this might have fit Roddenberry’s wishes without also pissing people off, it’s also left some gaping plausibility plotholes, particularly in the case of economics. Amusingly, these are all in the order of the technology. How does the Heisenberg Uncertainty Compensator work? Very well, thanks!
That’s what I like about Babylon 5 – for a space opera, it’s a bit more realistic/pessimistic about such things. One episode was about a labor strike among the docking-bay workers. Imagine a labor strike in the ST universe! You can’t!* Nor anything like President Clark’s gradual usurpation of absolute power or the resulting civil war. (There was once a brief civil war in the Federation but that was because of a Dominion/Founders/Shapeshifters plot.)
*But see Leslie Fish’s classic filksong, “Wobblies From Space.”
Just ask the Shakers.