(please note that this blog post is about the new re-imagined series and not the classics)
I was in a meeting for my Salt Lake Mission trip when an animation of the core beliefs of mormonism was playing. One main planet was referred to Kolob a planet of the gods. I misheard this and thought they said Kobol the planet in Battle Star Galactica where the 12 tribes rebelled against the gods in some unmentioned way. I asked one of the leaders of the trip if there was a corelation and if BSG was mormon or had mormon elements and he said no. So if you are that person and reading this you are absolutely wrong I knew there had to be something there even if the guy wouldn't admit it or didn't see it so I did some research myself! First Kobol is an anagram of the Mormon "Kolob". Secondly under the wikipedia article for kolob it explicitly states in the first paragraph that kolob serves as the inspiration for kobol. Another thing to add credence to my theory is that the original creator of BSG Glen A. Larson was Mormon so he might be more likely to use some of those ideas in the series which he did. Under this idea that helps to explain the series a little more. The religion of Baltar seems to take a lot from mormonism. In one memorable episode he states verbatim , "How can god love anything that isn't perfect? ... We are god" which parallels the idea in mormonism that you can become a god if your good enough in the mormon religion and explains the crazy doctrine of Baltar.
This brings me to my third point Starbuck. When it was revealed that Starbuck was an angel of god I could hear the groans from my atheistic sister and brother-in-law. I however was exited because it had religious connotation and Starbuck wasn't a cylon. I was pretty sure that idea of coming back as an angel wasn't Christian but it was still religious. Whenever i hear someone say "oh I'll die and become an angel" I'm reminded of a play my local church did where the protagonist of the play wasn't saved and leading a bunch of children who were frightened by a night in the woods. Trying to comfort the kids he says if they died they just float up to heaven and become angels and one of the angels in the background of the play says "Oh angel feathers". Anyways back to Starbuck. Mormonism support the idea of a person coming back as a an angel. According to Mormonism Moroni was a prophet warrior who was the last to write in the gold plates Joseph Smith supposedly translated to create the book of mormon. He was "resurrected, became an angel, and was tasked with guarding the golden plates, and with eventually directing Joseph Smith to their location in the 1820s. " This could explain Starbuck who was resurrected to help the humans and cylons find Earth or their version of it. She was the harbinger of death because the mating of humans and cylons would bring the end to those races and create a new one of human-cylon hybrids. So anyways this post is just trying to show some of the possible mormon elements of BSG. This is by no means saying we as Christians shouldn't watch it(though if you do start to watch it be aware it does have a lot of sex) or shows with different religions. BSG and most sci-fi shows are a hodgepodge of religions. I just think its important to be aware of the influencing religions in a show.
Forever in Christ,
GKE
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