Colonial theology (1978 edition)

[Hope It Is The Grog]

I have read (not having watched the thing) that Ron Moore's series gives Colonial society an explicitly polytheistic belief system, as opposed to the allegedly "inconsistent" theological expressions of original BSG. The implication is that the 1978 series expressed polytheism at times and monotheism at other times.

Looking back through my memory, though, I'm not recalling any dialogue in the classic series that explicitly suggested the Colonials were anything but monotheistic. (Examples: "My God!" - Tigh; "Good Lord!" - Starbuck; "Not even God?" - Adama) There may have been expressions like "Thank the Lords of Kobol," but that doesn't prove the Lords of Kobol were considered deities. Likewise, Apollo's "If what you're saying is true, then this man is some kind of a god," while reflecting an awareness of polytheistic systems, doesn't imply Apollo necessarily believes in such a system. When Starbuck meets the Seraphs, he asks if they are "angels," not "gods."

The only place I can recall the word "gods" used with the implication that it reflects Galactican cosmology is in those two episode titles, "Lost Planet of the Gods" and "War of the Gods." That implication, though, was never borne out in the actual dialogue of those episodes. And I'm trying to avoid forcing any kind of external Mormon formulations onto the show, relying instead on the characters' own expressions of their concept of divinity.

Am I missing anything, though? Do any characters in original BSG speak as if they believed in a plurality of gods?
What about novelizations? Did they go into any detail on this question?
Could both types of systems have existed side by side in the Colonies? What the heck is the Otori sect, anyway?

[137th Gebirg]

Considering that Larson's use of Mormon doctrine in TOS was monotheistic in nature, I believe the "gods" plurality refers more to the Ascension of the Lords of Kobol to a god-like state - also in keeping with Mormon scripture. They believed that with enough study, faith and involvement in the LDS church leads one to become closer to the understanding of the nature of God and other metalphysical aspects of the universe. I think they simply refer to the "gods" with a little "g", but most everyone else would refer to them as angels or the Beings of Light/Custodians of the Universe in TOS. They, too, should be answering to a Higher Power.

In NuBSG, there are many Gods, of Greco-Roman influence, with a big "G", all on relatively equal standing with each other.

My two cubits, anyways.

[johnnybear]

In War of The Gods Adama does give us a Kirk style explanation that such creatures like Iblis and The Seraphs might have been the cause of their belief in Gods to start with and that they are some form of advanced being that they too might one day become (or is that what the angelic girl with the man's voice explains to Starbuck at the end as well)
JB

[Hope It Is The Grog]

I don't remember that speech. Guess I've got an excuse to watch it again...

[johnnybear]

I don't remember that speech. Guess I've got an excuse to watch it again...

Do you really need an excuse?
JB