Religion
Humanoid Cylons, except for the Cavil models, follow a monotheistic religion. Religious fanaticism partially motivates their genocide of humanity, and despite their origins, the Cylons believe themselves to be spiritual beings. This monotheism seems to share some of the characteristics as the Abrahamic religions: belief that God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, that he will one day deliver divine retribution, and that he intervenes in the mundane world.
Ronald D. Moore, the creator of the show, has said that this comes when a race becomes sentient and self-aware — questioning faith and religion and about what happens after death.
Their beliefs are different from the Abrahamic religions, in that they deal with issues such as consciousness, enlightenment and reincarnation.
The different models of Cylon have slightly different ways of talking about and dealing with their god, reflecting the different aspects of humanity that each Cylon model reflects. As shown in at least one case, the Number Ones in season four, the Cylons do not all believe in god and can be agnostic or atheist. In contrast, Leoben Conoy (model Number 2) is fanatically religious, even compared to the other Cylon models.
Read more about this topic: Cylon (reimagining)
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“A strong argument for the religion of Christ is this—that offences against Charity are about the only ones which men on their death-beds can be made—not to understand—but to feel—as crime.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1845)
“The only human beings I have thoroughly admired and respected in the world have been those who carried the load of the world with a smile, and who, in the face of anxieties that would have knocked me clean out, never showed a tremor. Such men and women end by owning us, soul and body, and our allegiance can never be shaken. We are only too glad to be owned. Religion is nothing but this.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“There is not enough religion in the world even to destroy religion.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)