Natasa Tucev wrote:

Sally wrote:

...

Jacqui: <There are two cases where 'hell' is used as a destination in B7 - Blake and Provine, and Avon and Servalan in 'Rumours' - which implies that 'some' sort of religious belief survived.>

and kathryn: <Maybe, maybe not... it could be just a linguistic echo...>

Am inclined to agree with Kathryn; IMO it's rather like the way we use Nemesis.

Or 'nightmare', which used to be a pagan goddess.

Still, why does Blake say to Provine, 'See you in hell'? Isn't this a 'destination'? Does he think he also deserves hell for what he's doing?

Well, 'see you in hell' is just an old expression. However, I agree with you that Blake, Avon, and Vila all clearly understood the *idea* of hell as a place. That doesn't IMO imply *faith* in its existence, but it does imply that at least the memory of religion survived in some form.

What we learned in Pressure Point is *not* that religion is banned, but that religious *assembly* is banned in the Federation. It may simply be that assembly of any kind is deemed dangerous to those in power. Gan didn't know what a church was, but when Blake said 'place of religious assembly', clearly Gan knew what religion was.

OTOH, religion gives people something to be loyal to other than the state, so it may indeed have been banned. But I think faith is tenacious; it appears to be wired into our brains. It would surely have gone underground, or off-world. Perhaps there are whole planets of Quakers, Buddhists, Wiccans. Perhaps one of the forbidden pleasures of places like Space City and Freedom City is an hour alone in a Zen garden, or the chance to take Holy Communion with other believers.

Personally, I think religion is not banned in the Federation so much as considered irrational superstition bordering on serious mental illness. You can get treatment for it if you like (but they'll start a surveillance file on you). People don't admit to it; it's gone totally underground and people make crude jokes about 'credulous mystics' even if they are one, because it's dangerous not to fit in. But it doesn't die out because especially for the lower grades, it's the only hope there is.

Mistral