If Scully left the FBI to become a doctor full time, what would be her medical specialty? I would surmise she would make a good pathologist.

Anyone else think Scully had a major change of heart in the third season?

She was an atheist before that; Watch 'Miracle Man'and see how she excludes the possibility of God's intervention;

Then Mulder finds her cross ad says it something he wouldn't expect her to wear - meaning that he thought she was an atheist!

Finally, no priest is being brought to Scully's bed in the Hospital in 'One Breath' - f she were religious, wouldn't her mother send for one?

But then 'Revelations'come along, and all of the sudden - Scully's a good catholic. Now what do u think of that?

Shes not exactly an aetheist, she's an unpracticing Catholic. Which, in scully's
case, means that she doesn't regularly go to church or pray, but she still believes
in God

looks to me like forensic medicine is her specialty....?

Nyla - she defnetly HAS to be an atheist if what she's saying to Mulder in the pilot will make sense... Mulder asks her "do you believe in Aliens" and she says "Logically, I would jave to say no" . You can;t give that kind of reaction and still proclaim you believe in God

I can and do.

You can do it. I believe in God, (I'm Orthodox Christian) and I think that the Drake
equation pretty much proves the *probablity* of alien life, but I won't be sure
'til they walk up to me. On the other hand, I have Protestant friends who believe in
God and think that precludes believing in EBEs. (Sample conversation: "Well, he
didn't mention them in the Bible.

Nyla, I agree. While there's nothing in the Bible that directly mentions EBEs (although some UFO folk have speculated that some Biblical events might be extraterrestrial rather than divine in origin), there's nothing that specifically rules them out either.

And to Anonymous #1--there's nothing at all contradictory about believing in God but not aliens, when your disbelief is based in logic. Simply because one has faith in something does not mean they must take everything on faith. Belief in God is characteristically an acceptance of something spiritual in spite of the absence of hard scientific evidence, whereas the belief in aliens is a belief in another physical manifestation of life which must be able to be proven by scientific means.

I remain under the impression that Scully worships science. She started the series having confidence that science has all the answers she needs. But by now, she realizes the limitations of science.

In "All Souls", while in Confession, she says, "As much as I have my faith, I am a scientist. [...] But science tells us how, not why."

Well, both the belief in God and the belief in extra terrestrial have an unknown probability of being correct. If there are no evidence to support something, or at least to indicate the Odds for something to exist, it is not logical ( from a scientific point of view) to believe in it. so if Scully doesn't believe in UFOS ( not aliens in another planet - she never overuled that possibility) and claims to think logically ( or rather in a methodolical way), she can not believe in God.

Does this make any sort of sense?

If not, here is the shorter version: Scully conveys her dibelief in UFOS in the tools that will convey disbelief in God

No. Because we are Human we don't depend on logic. And her believing in God, but requiring scientific proof for everything else, may be counter-intuitive and outright contradictory, but that is why we are human.

It she were a Vulcan then I could agree...

Well normally, a person believing in god is not a problem, since we don't always comply to reason, especially when we have security beliefs regarding the issue. That's why Smokers are less likely to believe that smoking causes cancer - because they get a benefit from no believing that. But if Scully sais that she uses LOGIC to contrudict Mulder's claims, then she must look at logic as the way to deal with problems regarding uncertainty, so she could not believe in God. The only other explanation is that Scully is a hipocrat ( sp?) - and I wouldn't want to believe that

It's "hypocrite."

Everyone's a hypocrite in something. This seems like a good one to me. :-)

Moving right along...

Does anybody want to start a "Get Dana Sensible Shoes" campaign? Sure, those cute little heels make her look taller and all. BUT... they are really bad for Scully's back, feet, and knees.

I have been griping about her shoes forever! She runs like a gazelle in every other episode (or so)...and I always wonder how she manages that in those shoes! Besides, we know she's short. I don't think anyone minds. But, at least she didn't resort to the alternative female "height booster"-big ol' hair!
speaking of scully's hair, I wish I knew exactly what hair color she uses....it's brilliant! SOmehow, it looks better and more natural than her original drabbish blond.
**segue***
I don't understand why beleiving in God and in Et's would be so incompatible. Or hypocritical.
But then, I'm not anxious to have it explained to me, re: "The bath scene, part XXV"............

I've put some thought into this and come to the conclusion that Scully's paternal grandfather must have been Jack Packard of "I Love a Mystery". No, really. He has been known to deny the exsistence of werewolves while being attcked by them. At some early point in his life he is known to have gotten a girl "in trouble". As he was a war hero it seems likely that a son of his might have gone into the military. Plus, at one point in his career he was involved with the myterious "Group of 21".

"I Love a Mystery" is a 40s radio show about the A1 Detective agency headed by Jack Packard. They investigated crimes commited by humans, aliens, and other monsters. There are several sites on the web about it but unfortunately they start assuming you have a working knowledge of the show. Good stuff if you can get past titles like "The Forgotten City of Vampires", etc.

I believe that Anonymous hasn't read much in
either theology or philosophy to make generalizations about either faith or logic.
To put it quite distinctly logic and reason are
just as important part of faith as belief in
God and the supernatural.
We live in a universe that is constructed out of
logic and reason,because God is a God of logic
and reason.God is not a God of chaos or disharmony,so to to say that logic and faith are
contrary to each other is the most illogical
statement that one can make.
That being said,I also believe that this doesn't
exclude the possibility of alien life anywhere else
in the universe,nor does it disqualify the
possibility of alternate realities or universes
existing.
We should never overlook these possibilites
as God is far bigger than we can imagine.

Did Scully's brother also play a Naval officer on Dark Skies? He looked awfully familiar.

BTW, the name "Scully" is a tribute to long-time (since 1950!) Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully. Showrunner Chris Carter is a big Dodgers fan. (Carter was born in October 1956, a little more than 11 months before the Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field on 9/24/57. Vin Scully is probably the last of the Dodger personnel left from their Brooklyn days.)