Re: SF and Christians (was extraterrestrial intelligence)

Jonathan Clarke (jdac@alphalink.com.au)
Tue, 13 Apr 1999 09:42:43 +1000

Curious that so many high profile people profess to dislike Lewis's trilogy, and
get his books continue to remain in print, be bought, read, and cited as important
works. I didn't know about Card, I will have to read more of his work. Other
Christian SF writers have included Cordwainer Smith and Zenna Henderson. Some no
Christians have also written very thoughtfully about religion in some of their
works. Herbert's "Dragon in the Sea", Blish's "A case of conscience" and Simak's
"Why call them back from heaven" are cases in point.

It always interest me also how, in spite of it all, SF writers cannot escape
religious and even Christian themes. Perhaps it is because SF deals in some sense
with the universe (and humanity) as it is, and thus cannot escape its
implications.

God Bless

Jonathan

JANINE R. BAALBERGEN wrote:

> As a science fiction buff I might be able to shed some light on that:
>
> So far I have come across a few trends:
>
> As an Science Fiction buff I have found that many people in this
> field, though not all, reject religion. If they write about religion it's
> usually to mock it. If anyone writes sf as a christian (CS Lewis) it
> is rejected as religious propaganda. I can think of at least one high
> profile person in the sf field who would, if time travel existed, risk
> everything to be able to go back in time just to get rid of CS Lewis.
> He hates his guts.
> Problem is: Lewis's Space Trilogy is kind of a classic in the field,
> which means he is a person they cannot quite afford to ignore. It
> would have been a true classic if his religious motivations had not
> been so obvious.
> Many seem to think sf and religion, as they call it, do not go
> together. Mind you, they always talk about religion, never about a
> personal faith. I don't think they have ever met anyone who had
> that. Too many may have had too many bible bashings.
>
> Not everyone does reject the link. Orson Scott Card is a christian,
> that's very obvious from his writings and he has written a thing or
> two re. sf and christian faith. I think people interested in sf and
> space exploration have a lot in common with christians, but if you
> combine the two you are kinda odd. We share the sense of
> wonder, adventure, exploration, that life is exciting and that you
> can make a different, for instance.
>
> These are some of my observations, anyway.
>
> Janine Baalbergen
> Janbaa85@ait.ac.nz
>
> -
> Janine R. Baalbergen
> Student Master of Arts
> School of Communications
> Auckland Institute of Technology
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