A big thanks goes to Visualops for the Banner!!
Perhaps your SF ping list might find this interesting.
Science fiction and police fiction (private detective, police procedural, etc.) have always taken religion seriously and explored both religion and ethics in complex and thoughtful ways.
Of course, if sci-fi is drawing on the ‘War on Terror’, it’s still really drawing on religion—however much we try to avert our eyes from the fact by using euphemisms like ‘the War on Terror’, the war between the West and Islam is a religious war.
This guy doesn’t read. All his examples are TV and movies, whereas if he read, he’d know one of the most compelling supporting examples of his premise is the final Harry Potter novel.
To say the least. I really agree with though. SciFi and religon have always intermingled past the fifties anyways (alot of the early works seem to have it less, including Bradbury and Wells [or what I’ve read of them]). Look at Dune, written 60’s, it’s chocked full of religion (not any religion I would like to be part of but still...) It’s one of the best selling (if not the best selling) Science Fiction books. Also B5, X-files, Stargate (good grief the whole premise of the show starts out with re-imaging religions) all have tackled this, them being the three biggest Sci-fis of the last 20 years on TV. Before that with Star Trek, and other shows, I didn’t see it as much (I also wasn’t alive also).
Apparently, the author had not seen the final episode of Battlestar Galactica. It ended on a very religious note. It implied VERY strongly that the Humans and Cylons ended up where they ended up through divine intervention. It was very powerful for me.
A fifth Star Trek series, called Enterprise, began its four-season run... The action-packed series quickly became the best Trek since the original...
Colossal mega-barf.
Science fiction and fantasy are both genres that work with religion frequently because they can discuss “controversial” issues by re-labelling them. The genres can examine the issues surrounding religion without actually getting into a religious debate. I recently sold an sf story that directly deals with “gods” in a post-apocalyptic world (and it’s the second story I’ve sold which deals explicitly with abortion).
The creation of gods and the issues surrounding belief in aliens and other things which exist outside a rational framework of belief, questions of what is and isn’t alive, etc. It’s a great playground for religious discussion. Too bad those genres are overwhelmed with LOTR ripoffs, “sexy” vampire stories, Trek and Star Wars retreads...
The sky is the limit in fantasy and sf, but 95% of the writers stick to the same old stuff.
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Did this guy get paid by the word?
BUMP to myself!
Jalisco, an informative and interesting article — nice post.
Kevin, thanks for the ping — fascinating!
Regards,
Not even an Honorable Mention for the Chief Science Fiction Religion Creator, L.Ron Hubbard?