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).
There’s a saying that science fiction is never about the future, it’s always about the present. It simply projects present day concerns into the future. So when religion is high in people’s consciousness many religious stories are written. Likewise, when Wells wrote Science and Progress were practically worshiped as secular religions, so his fiction reflected this.