> God bless the Sci-Fi Channel for re-running Star Trek: The Next Generation.
> Tonight's broadcast included "Measure of a Man" which just finished.  I had
> forgotten how wonderful this episode was.  I am convinced it is one of the
> five best Trek episodes ever written, but even more than that, is one of the
> best pieces of episodic television ever aired.  
>
> For those who have forgotten, the episode asks and attempts to answer one
> simple question:  what is Data?  On the one hand, it is claimed that Data is
> a machine, and is no more due consideration as a sentient being than any
> other machine.  Toasters were mentioned specifically.  On the other hand, it
> is stipulated that while Data is not human, and, indeed, it is not really
> possible to determine what kind of a life form he is, he functions in a
> manner indistinguishable from humans, and therefore must be accorded the
> rights and privileges accorded any human under Federation law.
>
> In the end, we all remember, the latter view, ably represented by Captain
> Picard, with a small assist from Guinan, prevailed.  What makes this episode
> so very interesting is the legal basis for this ruling.  The Judge
> Advocate's ruling was pretty close to this:
>
> "We've all been dancing around the basic question.  I don't know whether
> Data has a soul.  I don't know whether I have one.  But, he must be allowed
> to explore that question, and so he has the right to choose.."  
>
> The basis for Data's rights .. the basis for all sentient life's rights ..
> as argued from this episode .. derives from the existence of a **soul** - a
> uniquely religious construct, a uniquely Christian construct.  Nor, was this
> even the only such statement of the episode.  Herewith:
>
> 1) Picard exclaims on seeing Commander Louvoir again after ten years, "My
> God!"  
>
> 2) Louvoir in her ruling alludes to "metaphysical questions .. " Metaphysics
> must be considered in the traditional sense as expressed here:
>
>     "Now the science conversant about all such inferences of unknown being
> from its known manifestations, is called ontology, or metaphysics proper."
> Sir W. Hamilton.
>
>     "Metaphysics are [is] the science which determines what can and what can
> not be known of being, and the laws of being, a priori. "Coleridge.
>
> Some would claim that since such notions are explicitly unfalsifiable, they
> cannot be considered science at all, so that both statements above are
> oxymorons, but that is a digression.  
>
> 3) Louvoir completes her statement on metaphysical questions saying they are
> .. "best left to saints and philosophers," pointing out that she was not
> qualified to rule in this case because she was neither.  "Saint" is another
> uniquely Christian concept, and how interesting here that Louvoir stipulates
> that saints and philosophers are distinguished from one another, and that
> each is qualified by dint of experience or study or both (it is inferred) to
> speak on these questions.  
>
> In the end, all of this is sufficient rebuttal to any blanket statement that
> TNG was a secular television series, devoid of any spirituality, and
> certainly antithetical to fundamental Christian notions.  I shall be pleased
> to remind those here who claim otherwise of this episode's many references
> to fundamental Christian beliefs, topics and concepts when the occasion
> warrants.  Like now.  ;)