Science fiction, good & bad, has a considerable influence on popular ideas
about science & sometimes about relations between science & religion. 1 recent release
& 1 coming attraction are bad news in this regard.
1) _Mission to Mars_ is, apart from the science, not very good SF - a melange of
old themes & plot devices. The previews & ads for it pretty much give away the plot so
I shouldn't be spoiling it for anyone to say that the ancient Martians (of course
humanoid, kind of a cross between _Close Encounters_ & Roswell) "seeded" earth long ago
to begin an evolutionary process which would end up with human DNA. How that is
supposed to work is anyone's guess. There is no overt religion in the film at all but
this idea of a directed, noncontingent evolution (a version of ID) serves as an ersatz
religion for some folks today - including some Christians.
2) Actor John Travolta is an enthusiastic member of the Church of Scientology &
its been known for a long time that he wanted to make a scientology film of some type.
The screening of _Mission to Mars_ that I saw was accompanied by a preview of his film
_Battleground Earth_, based on a novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the inventor of scientology.
The previews claims that Hubbard was one of the greatest science fiction writers & that
_Battleground Earth_ is one of the best selling SF novels of all time. In reality,
Hubbard was a pure pulp writer none of whose works of the 40s (before he invented
dianetics & then turned it into a religion) have received any recognition at all. & the
sales of the relatively recent BE (whether actually by Hubbard or someone else is
uncertain) were artificially boosted by scientologists buying up cartons of them. The
book & - as far as I can tell - the film are just old good guys vs. evil aliens space
opera & I don't know how much actual scientology propaganda may be buried in them.
We'll see - if & when it actually makes it to the theater &/or video.
It's sad that the only corresponding recent Christian effort I know of, _The
Omega Code_, is pure crap.
Live long & prosper -
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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