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Children of the son

The hideout of some of the members

The Children of the Son were a minority religion emerging on 892-IV in the mid-23rd century, very similar to Earth's early Christians, who often lived in hiding from the Roman government. Unlike on Earth, the religion started to spread in their equivalent of the 20th century.

Upon learning of the Children, the crew of the USS Enterprise initially confused the name for "Children of the Sun", and believed them to be a cult of sun worshipers. Their mistake was only discovered when Nyota Uhura listened to some of their radio wave broadcasts and found that the empire's spokesman was unable to successfully ridicule their beliefs.

The religion centered on the Son, an analogue to Jesus Christ. Their philosophy was referred to as the "word of the Son", and emphasized total love and total brotherhood. All men were considered brothers (of the son), and might even call themselves or others such. They had a concept of heaven, which was where the Son was. The stars were believed to be lights shining through from heaven. Its adherents believed it to be the only true belief, the 892-IV native deities being false gods.

The Children of the Son were heavily persecuted. One adherent named Septimus was a senator, but was made a slave upon converting. The religion was very popular among the slaves, and when slaves began to worship the Son they became discontented. Spock believed the Children of the Son were destined to replace Roman culture in less than a century. (TOS: "Bread and Circuses")

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