=== Robot Judaism ===
=== Robot Judaism ===
The episode “[[Future Stock]]” introduces Robot Judaism in a scene where [[Philip J. Fry|Fry]] and [[Dr. Zoidberg]], seeking free food, sneak into a “Bot Mitzvah” celebration (a spoof of the [[Bar and Bat Mitzvah]]). As a joke about [[Kashrut|Jewish dietary laws]]’ proscriptions against shellfish, Zoidberg was not allowed in (despite having Jewish stereotype qualities), as he was an anthropomorphic lobster. At the Bot Mitzvah, Fry asks a Jewish robot if they don’t believe in Robot Jesus, to which the robot replies, “We believe he was built, and that he was a very well-programmed robot, but he wasn’t our Messiah”. A banner written in [[Hebrew]] reads “Today you are a robot” (with two misspellings),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/futuramavol3.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040823143014/http://dvdverdict.com/reviews/futuramavol3.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 August 2004 |title=Futurama: Volume Three |author=Ryan, David |access-date=28 October 2007 }}</ref> referencing the traditional Jewish belief that a boy becomes a man at age 13, which is celebrated on his Bar Mitzvah. In the episode “[[The Bots and the Bees]]” Bender’s son, Ben, has a Bot Mitzvah celebration of his own where he becomes a man after being born only a few days prior. This scene reinforces the quick rate at which robots mature in the ”Futurama” world as well as alludes to the practice of robot circumcision.
The episode “[[Future Stock]]” introduces Robot Judaism in a scene where [[Philip J. Fry|Fry]] and [[Dr. Zoidberg]], seeking free food, sneak into a “Bot Mitzvah” celebration (a spoof of the [[Bar and Bat Mitzvah]]). As a joke about [[Kashrut|Jewish dietary laws]]’ proscriptions against shellfish, Zoidberg was not allowed in (despite having Jewish stereotype qualities), as he was an anthropomorphic lobster. At the Bot Mitzvah, Fry asks a Jewish robot if they don’t believe in Robot Jesus, to which the robot replies, “We believe he was built, and that he was a very well-programmed robot, but he wasn’t our Messiah”. A banner written in [[Hebrew]] reads “Today you are a robot” (with two misspellings),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/futuramavol3.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040823143014/http://dvdverdict.com/reviews/futuramavol3.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 August 2004 |title=Futurama: Volume Three |author=Ryan, David |access-date=28 October 2007 }}</ref> referencing the traditional Jewish belief that a boy becomes a man at age 13, which is celebrated on his Bar Mitzvah. In the episode “[[The Bots and the Bees]]” Bender’s son, Ben, has a Bot Mitzvah celebration of his own where he becomes a man after being born only a few days prior. This scene reinforces the quick rate at which robots mature in the ”Futurama” world as well as alludes to the practice of robot circumcision.
== References to existing religions ==
Aside from inventing religions, the writers of ”Futurama” also make references to established faiths.
In the episode “[[When Aliens Attack]]”, Earth is invaded by Omicronians demanding to see the season finale of ”Single Female Lawyer”, a television show which was accidentally knocked off the air 1,000 years earlier by [[Philip J. Fry|Fry]]. [[Hubert J. Farnsworth|Professor Farnsworth]] explains that the show no longer exists because most video tapes from that era were destroyed during the [[Second Coming]] of [[Jesus]] in the year 2443.<ref name=”Drawn To TV”>{{cite book|last=Booker| first=M. Keith|title=Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy|pages=115–124}}</ref>
== Godfellas ==
== Godfellas ==
Themes of religion in the series Futurama
The animated science fiction television program Futurama makes a number of satirical and humorous references to religion, including inventing several fictional religions which are explored in certain episodes of the series.[citation needed]
Fictional religions
[edit]
The episode “Hell Is Other Robots” centers around Bender‘s becoming addicted to high-voltage electricity, then discovering the religion of Robotology to help him break the habit. Sermons are conducted at the Temple of Robotology by the Reverend Preacherbot, a character whose mannerisms draw heavily on black church preacher stereotypes.[1] Robotology is a play on the name Scientology.[2]
Robotology has a holy text, The Good Book 3.0 which is stored on a 3.5″ floppy disk. Two symbols of the religion are shown in the episode. The first is a zig-zag line with a circle at either end, based on the electronic symbol used for resistors on circuit diagrams.[3]
Robots who accept Robotology are expected to abstain from behavior such as smoking, pornography, stealing, abusing electricity, and drinking alcohol. Consuming alcohol is usually necessary to power a robot’s fuel cells, but this episode establishes that mineral oil is an acceptable substitute. Sinners are punished by condemnation to Robot Hell, located under an abandoned amusement park in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The punishments in Robot Hell are similar to the levels and rationale portrayed in Dante’s Divine Comedy, specifically the Inferno.[1]
Robot Hell is controlled by the Robot Devil. He is bound by the Fairness in Hell Act of 2275, allowing anyone to win their freedom by defeating him in a fiddle contest with a solid gold fiddle, a reference to the song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia“.[1] Should the individual lose the fiddle contest, they will only receive a smaller, silver fiddle and the Robot Devil may kill them at his discretion.
The episode “Future Stock” introduces Robot Judaism in a scene where Fry and Dr. Zoidberg, seeking free food, sneak into a “Bot Mitzvah” celebration (a spoof of the Bar and Bat Mitzvah). As a joke about Jewish dietary laws‘ proscriptions against shellfish, Zoidberg was not allowed in (despite having Jewish stereotype qualities), as he was an anthropomorphic lobster. At the Bot Mitzvah, Fry asks a Jewish robot if they don’t believe in Robot Jesus, to which the robot replies, “We believe he was built, and that he was a very well-programmed robot, but he wasn’t our Messiah”. A banner written in Hebrew reads “Today you are a robot” (with two misspellings),[4] referencing the traditional Jewish belief that a boy becomes a man at age 13, which is celebrated on his Bar Mitzvah. In the episode “The Bots and the Bees” Bender’s son, Ben, has a Bot Mitzvah celebration of his own where he becomes a man after being born only a few days prior. This scene reinforces the quick rate at which robots mature in the Futurama world as well as alludes to the practice of robot circumcision.
The episode “Godfellas” explores several religious themes in a more earnest and thought-provoking way than any other episode, and without explicitly referencing or parodying any particular religion. Bender is accidentally cast adrift in space and unwittingly becomes a god figure to a race of tiny people (Shrimpkins) living on an asteroid that impacts his body. Bender attempts to answer their prayers, but ends up harming the Shrimpkins. Meanwhile, the Shrimpkins who have migrated to Bender’s backside, out of his sight, grow frustrated that their prayers go entirely unanswered. Eventually the two factions of Shrimpkins wipe one another out in a miniature nuclear war.
After Bender’s unsuccessful attempt at godhood, he encounters a god-like entity in space. Bender first wonders if the entity is God, because of its awesome power or a computer because it thinks in binary. The entity responds “Possible, I do feel compassion towards all living things” and “Possible, I am user-friendly” respectively, adding “My good chum” to the end both times. Bender eventually theorizes that the entity may have, in fact, been the remains of a satellite that collided with God, to which the entity replies “Probable”. The conversation between them touches on the ideas of predestination, prayer, and the nature of salvation, in what Mark Pinsky referred to as a theological turn to the episode which may cause the viewer to need “to be reminded that this is a cartoon and not a divinity school class”.[1] By the end of the conversation, Bender’s questions still have not been fully answered, and he is left wanting more from the voice than it has given him.[1]
