Do the religious themes bother anyone you know to tune out?

No. A lot of people seem to have trouble with Shaw being religious and a scientist, but I've never understood the problem.

The religious aspects touched on in Alien 3 and Resurrection are easy enough to ignore if one chooses (like the prisoners often did in Alien 3 anyway).

I have some family like that.  One of my sisters brings up the Prometheus Religion connotations whenever a conversation regarding the Alien Universe pops up (which oddly enough, happens a lot).

I agree that it can be ignored but Prometheus and Shaw was a little on the nose to me and caused some I know to check out- beliefs seemed to cloud enjoying a movie. For me, belief/faith over proof and then saying "we were so wrong" in that specific movie kind of ruined it for me. That said, others I know checked out because of the religious ideas and dismissed it.

Nycro

Not sure about you, but when I ask people why they take issue and give specifics, I usually hear that it is just their faith, what they believe and marginalize a writer/director.

Well, using my sibling as a specific example:

She is very religious; very, very much so.  The religious ideas set forth in the movie contrary to her personal beliefs are an affront to her whole belief system (in her eyes making a mockery and an assault on Christianity).

It isn't just this she presents in this manner towards, but when it was just aliens face-raping dudes in space it never came up (before Prometheus).  The moment it became a bigger picture, or could be used as an allegory or had similar themes to her faith it became an issue.

I have a pretty small social circle, and although diverse in our personal selves, we are all sci-fi junkies (likewise with much of the remaining portions of my family).  As such, it doesn't seem to come up so much with others.

Specifically she was disgusted at:

1.  the barren woman giving birth to a monstrosity

2.  engineers wanting to wipe us out 2k years ago over something we did (Had to be about killing Jesus in her mind)

3.  bleeding over from #2, Jesus is now an alien

4.  God no longer exists, we were made in a lab, by smarter beings, because: reasons

there is actually a whole lot more but that's a much longer post :)

With others, when it had come up, it was people ignoring the fact that it was made to entertain.  They feel like it was a personal attack.  It can be kind of weird to experience first hand.

Nycro I can relate. For instance irony/art is lost on some.

a barren woman giving birth/virgin birth? No irony there right?

The rest is a lot of Ancient Alien stuff from at least as far back as the 60s.

I have noticed that those whom interpret these things as attacks on their faith tend to be dismissive and withdraw instead of engaging in a dialectic. There are some who do engage and that makes for some pretty interesting discussions.

Dismissive towards the works themselves, the creators and the fan base.  I very much see that.

It is unfortunate that some can't or won't entertain the possibilities. Oh well.

Well, it must be pretty good or worth a look if it can be so controversial/polarizing?

That's how I feel too.  I love healthy discussion.

My dad is a hard core Catholic and raised me that way but was always a scifi fan and turned me onto it. I either lost or found my way when I left. Lots of decades have passed and we have those conversations. It can get heated but it is always interesting and we never go away mad.

I'm not in a similar situation dk but after a lot of afterthought, I'm not sure how I feel about the religious undertones.

On one hand I think it's a bit ridiculous and I feel as if it leans towards films that intentionally or unintentionally force religious beliefs onto the viewer. I don't like that (the same way I dislike propaganda films where the motive is "our country is good, the other country/ies are bad") 

I'm sure this is not the case with Ridley's films but it still reminds me of that.

However on the other hand I feel like it's a functional concept in the sense that the bible has some interesting foundations and material to build stories upon in any genre really, I'm just not so keen on seeing cross symbolism mildly shoved in my face in an ALIEN film for instance, because it doesn't tell me anything relevant other than merely being a reference to the bible (go buy it, in stores now!) 

I don't know I'm torn about this one, sorry if this comes across as confusing, it's just so difficult to explain.

As a lapsed Catholic, I think it adds another dimension to an otherwise straightforward process. It was aliens in outer space. Now, it has scientific and religious undertones that makes people think more. It's not just about an acid bleeding alien that wants to kill you, its a whole mythology now that takes from religion and science and melds them together.

But a sci-fi flick without religious undertones doesn't have to be straightforward or limited to "acid bleeding alien that wants to kill you" 

Agreed.

But that was basically the premise of Alien...Aliens...Alien 3.

Survival from a hostile creature that has/had no backstory as to it's motivations other than to kill.

Prometheus gave us a little insight to the alien's history is all I'm saying.

As a Christian, I have watched films that have scenes against my religion and just look on through them. That said, if it bothers someone don't watch it. This film and Prometheus comes a lot from Ridley's own beliefs in God, Religion, Creation and Aliens.

I think if you look to deep into it you kind kill it either way you "believe"  It's just a move. I think science and religion coexist in which a door is always being opened for interpretation.

I was raised a Catholic and seeing the world we live in for 43 years now I've grown to believe more in the possibility of Aliens than God. That's my personal view on it. I guess it's what fascinates me so much about this franchise but it's all opened to interpretation. 

I have studied various Religions, and My own opinion and everyone has their own so i dont mean to offend and i wont go into detail the flaws... but i find a number of Religions Flawed and some dont really sit with my view on life and people.

But on the flip side they can also have some inspirational messages, and i also find it fascinating that many Religions and Mythos share so many themes.

That i sometimes ponder... is this more than coincidence, which i why i loved the Ancient Aliens connections Prometheus was touching upon..... i think Ridley Scott has a similar view to me on the whole Topic...

We cant prove or disprove many religions, or if there is a God, and many accounts share similar tales that there is that possibility that there is something more...  that things are no accident..

As i find flaws with Evolution too...  so its always fun to study and speculate about alternatives

I myself class my self as a more Spiritual Person

Not really, it depends on how they do the characters. The inmates in A3 had some sort of religious thing going on but I never got annoyed by their characters because they didn’t come off as being stupid or indoctrinated, Shaw on the other hand did.

I clearly remember one of the discussions that some of the prisoners had in A3 which went something like this:

• Do you believe in this heaven shit?

Which was followed by an answer that I don’t remember. My point is that they discussed it and sort of questioned it, Shaw never did that.

As far as science and religion goes you can mix it (look at philosophers like Descrates, Newton, Spinoza, and so on) and still get rid of the worst absurdities but Shaw didn’t.

I like this topic so thanks DK.