Faith in the Fictional War between Science Fiction and Faith
Is science fiction innately and naturally inclined to be hostile to religion?
After all, in FOUNDATION, the church of the Galactic Spirit turns out
to be a hoax, likewise the messiahship of Muad-Dib in DUNE, likewise
the Church of Foster in STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, likewise the evil
church of evil on GATHER, DARKNESS or RISE OF ENDYMION, likewise the
church of the rebels in SIXTH COLUMN. On the other hand, Christians as a
whole are pretty hostile to false prophets and heretics, and Americans,
like all good Protestant nations, are pretty hostile to organized
Churches. Roman Catholics, on the other hand, would like our church to
get organized, and we will get around to that real soon. So are these
portrayals of false religions innate to science fiction, or are they
merely the dramatic inventions of stories who are not necessarily
condemning religion as much as condemning falseness?
I would say this question breaks into three questions: (1) is there
anything innately hostile in SFF to religion portrayed as a human
institution? (2) is there anything innately hostile in SFF to religion
portrayed as supernatural (3) is there anything innately hostile in SFF
to supernaturalism in general?
All of these are difficult and subtle questions, and I am in the
middle of writing a Christian Science Fiction book right now, where Mary
Baker Eddy teams up with Nikolai Tesla to repel an invasion of the
lepers of Mars with the help of a mind-reading lion, called ASLAN IS A
SLAN, so I can deal with these difficult and subtle questions in only
the most shallow and trivial way.
Let us start with a definition: science fiction is the mythology of a scientific age.
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