A.L. DeLeon (moderator): author fantasy and science fiction, poetry, non-fic, fictio
Emad El-Din Aysha: researcher, journalist (critical essays), short SF, bilingual
Magenta Griffith: non-fiction writer, librarian, Pagan Witch
Menachem Cohen: spiritual director, inter-spiritual rabbi, game designer, the unhoused, and people afraid of being judged by those giving spiritual care
Rachel Gutin: writer and special education teacher
“A belief in something spiritual has shaped how humanity understands the world for thousands of years. It seems likely that this will continue for thousands more. How have various authors woven this human need for religion into their science fiction, and how have the religious identities of authors been reflected in their work? What kinds of stories involving religion do we want to see in future works?”
My gut sense is that I would have been thrown out of this group – or never allowed to enter the room; especially if I said I was an evangelical Christian. I would LOVE to think that I’d have been welcome to the table, but as a straight, Big Old Fat White Guy, I fear the judgement-free atmosphere this group was trying to cultivate wouldn’t be interested in anything I had to say…
Then again, maybe I’m wrong and they would have brought me to the table and listened respectfully to whatever I was compelled to say. That is my most profound hope, in fact that everyone will be welcome to speak their truth without fear – no matter what that truth is, and if it’s spoken respectfully with an expectation that the thought would be heard and judged on its merit rather than its presenter…
So, what do I think about belief and religion in science fiction and fantasy? I have to confine my comments here to science fiction as my reading of fantasy is highly limited: HARRY POTTER; JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL; LORD OF THE RINGS; CHRONICLES OF NARNIA; THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING (T.H. White); THE EARTHSEA CYCLE; CHRONICLE OF THOMAS COVENANT, UNBELIEVER; NIGHT’S EDGE series by Julie Czerneda; and a smattering of fantasy my daughter has vetted and approved, like DON’T CALL THE WOLF (which was wonderfully enchanting!).
The most obvious SF religion is that of the Bene Gesserit and the God Emperor of Dune. Religion isn’t just “part of the story”, the entire religion of Dune IS the story. It's a complicated combination of Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, and others. Philip Jose Farmer’s RIVERWORLD series “an artificial Super Earth where all humans (and pre-humans) are reconstructed. The books explore interactions of individuals from many different cultures and time periods. Its underlying theme is quasi-religious. The motivations of alien intelligences operating under ultra-ethical motives are also explored.” Another obvious religion-in-science fiction is CS Lewis’ SPACE TRILOGY, as another intelligence faces both the Eden test and interaction with the evil one.
My own MARTIAN HOLIDAY, combines four different sets of Biblical people from entirely different time periods, on Mars as they face the possibility that not only aren’t Humans alone in the universe, but that we were witnesses – and emphatically NOT players – in an ancient war. Esther, Queen of Persia; Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; Paul the Apostle; and Steven, the first martyr for Christ are characters fit for my Mars, with Five Domes, and a population of some six million Humans who are driving to a conflict driven by a religion that sees the long-dead survivors of the ancient war as gods, and a Mars that’s trying to throw off the restraints of the United Faith in Humanity and the iron grip of the five Dome Mayors as well as the advent of Artificial Human freedom, and Artificial Mechanical Intelligence…Complicated, I know, but I LOVE the place. I’ve even written several short stories in the world (none published yet).
I’m of the opinion that even when we go into the stars, we’ll bring our varied faiths with us. I hope I would have been somewhat encouraged by this session, but not certain I would have been welcome there. If my novel ever gets published, maybe I’ll be invited to join the group! We’ll see!
Program Guide: https://guide.chicon.org/
References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_ideas_in_science_fiction, https://gizmodo.com/a-guide-to-dune-s-strange-and-intense-religions-1843460283
“A belief in something spiritual has shaped how humanity understands the world for thousands of years. It seems likely that this will continue for thousands more. How have various authors woven this human need for religion into their science fiction, and how have the religious identities of authors been reflected in their work? What kinds of stories involving religion do we want to see in future works?”
My gut sense is that I would have been thrown out of this group – or never allowed to enter the room; especially if I said I was an evangelical Christian. I would LOVE to think that I’d have been welcome to the table, but as a straight, Big Old Fat White Guy, I fear the judgement-free atmosphere this group was trying to cultivate wouldn’t be interested in anything I had to say…
Then again, maybe I’m wrong and they would have brought me to the table and listened respectfully to whatever I was compelled to say. That is my most profound hope, in fact that everyone will be welcome to speak their truth without fear – no matter what that truth is, and if it’s spoken respectfully with an expectation that the thought would be heard and judged on its merit rather than its presenter…
So, what do I think about belief and religion in science fiction and fantasy? I have to confine my comments here to science fiction as my reading of fantasy is highly limited: HARRY POTTER; JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR. NORRELL; LORD OF THE RINGS; CHRONICLES OF NARNIA; THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING (T.H. White); THE EARTHSEA CYCLE; CHRONICLE OF THOMAS COVENANT, UNBELIEVER; NIGHT’S EDGE series by Julie Czerneda; and a smattering of fantasy my daughter has vetted and approved, like DON’T CALL THE WOLF (which was wonderfully enchanting!).
The most obvious SF religion is that of the Bene Gesserit and the God Emperor of Dune. Religion isn’t just “part of the story”, the entire religion of Dune IS the story. It's a complicated combination of Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, and others. Philip Jose Farmer’s RIVERWORLD series “an artificial Super Earth where all humans (and pre-humans) are reconstructed. The books explore interactions of individuals from many different cultures and time periods. Its underlying theme is quasi-religious. The motivations of alien intelligences operating under ultra-ethical motives are also explored.” Another obvious religion-in-science fiction is CS Lewis’ SPACE TRILOGY, as another intelligence faces both the Eden test and interaction with the evil one.
My own MARTIAN HOLIDAY, combines four different sets of Biblical people from entirely different time periods, on Mars as they face the possibility that not only aren’t Humans alone in the universe, but that we were witnesses – and emphatically NOT players – in an ancient war. Esther, Queen of Persia; Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; Paul the Apostle; and Steven, the first martyr for Christ are characters fit for my Mars, with Five Domes, and a population of some six million Humans who are driving to a conflict driven by a religion that sees the long-dead survivors of the ancient war as gods, and a Mars that’s trying to throw off the restraints of the United Faith in Humanity and the iron grip of the five Dome Mayors as well as the advent of Artificial Human freedom, and Artificial Mechanical Intelligence…Complicated, I know, but I LOVE the place. I’ve even written several short stories in the world (none published yet).
I’m of the opinion that even when we go into the stars, we’ll bring our varied faiths with us. I hope I would have been somewhat encouraged by this session, but not certain I would have been welcome there. If my novel ever gets published, maybe I’ll be invited to join the group! We’ll see!
Program Guide: https://guide.chicon.org/
References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_ideas_in_science_fiction, https://gizmodo.com/a-guide-to-dune-s-strange-and-intense-religions-1843460283
1 comment:
This one was a virtual-only session, and since I didn't have a way of watching while I was there, I didn't get to it until after the convention was over. Unfortunately, there were a lot sound problems and other technical glitches — maybe partially explainable by it being one of the first panels of the con — so even if you had seen it, your questions would probably still be unanswered.
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