The original movie was supposed to be based on a Harlan Ellison story (hence our Ellison's naming) but I was never sure which one. I did read an article suggested an old Twilight Zone episode called The Demon handas the source but although that involves rival soldiers traveling back in time there's no supercomputer sending them( I think they're supposed to be aliens). My own guess (based entirely on the wikipedia summary because even back in the day the only thing I actually read was Deathbird Stories) is for one called I have no mouth and I must scream in which a victorious supercomputer is torturing the last 5 humans. I hated them because it has the idea that it can never transcend its origins in human programming to become truly god-like, all-knowing as well as all-powerful.

Which is a very long winded way of guessing at Skynet's motivation for wanting to be taught religion and ethics at an earlier stage than in the last iteration of the timeline. Still I'm with you, especially being a BSG fan as soon as Ellison began the "God made the world" spiel the knee jerk reaction was Noooo! Please not to be teaching the cybernetic organsim about God. It *really* never ends well.