One of the big differences between science fiction and fantasy is that authors of the latter have a greater tendency towards being religious. While both J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were Christian, many of the most prominent names in science fiction – Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Gene Roddenberry, Robert A. Heinlein, J. M. Straczynski – are or were atheists.
Granted, Battlestar Galactica is based heavily upon creator Ronald Moore’s own Mormon faith… and Orson Scott Card is a right-wing conservative Mormon, but other than that, science fiction appears to be within the realm of secularism and really bad SciFi Channel Original Movies. And even if there are a few religious themes in some books or TV shows, until I found this episode of Space: Above and Beyond*. Let’s go through the checklist -
Grumpy, Stereotypical Atheist – CHECK
Conversion Through a Miracle (or Series of) – CHECK
What? Christmas Isn’t About Secular Rampant Consumerism!? – CHECK
Some Stupid Discussion About “Faith” – CHECK
Anyways, enjoy -
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v505582YYEAqz8k
*It’s actually a pretty good show in general in my opinion that deals with serious issues that could arise in the future, but this episode was definitely a miss.
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[...] See the original post: Christian Sci-Fi: Rarer Than a Gay Black Republican. [...]
Ron Moor isn’t a Mormon, he’s a “recovering catholic”. Glen Larson, Glen Larson, the creator of the original series is a mormon. This website has been invaluable for basic fact-checking…
Typo on my last post, that’s Ron Moore
C.Alan Zoppa is correct. The 2000’s BSG by Ron Moore, if anything, is a show that explores the dark side of religion. Ron Moore seems to be either an agnostic or an atheist. Glen Larson, the creator of the 1970’s show, was a Mormon, and the original show had a lot of Mormon symbolism and narrative similarities that the new show doesn’t.
Um sorry for not doing my research. You are right; Glen Larson was the original BSG creator and used the lore from his Mormon faith to shape much of the BSG backstory. I don’t know what religion Ronald Moore is, and I don’t think it really matter if BSG borrows themes from any religion or no religion – it’s pretty decent sci-fi in an era when both Star Wars and Star Trek seem to be out of good ideas.
You completely forgot one of the 20th century’s finest science fiction writers- Philip K. Dick. Granted, his religious beliefs were thoroughly diluted with a completely indescribable, completely unique form of Gnostic mysticism that would be unrecognizable to most Christians, liberal or otherwise. But I think that no person has actually breathed science fiction until they have gotten through any of the following Philip K. Dick novels: VALIS, the Man in the High Castle, A Maze of Death, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, or Ubik.
Yeah, the new Galactica seems pretty atheistic, though it’ll be interesting to see if any true gods do emerge in these last few episodes. Also, I think The Twilight Zone has tackled religion. I think what it comes down to is that because Fantasy stories often involve magic, it attracts writers who have a lot of magical thinking whereas Science Fiction usually involves scientific explanations or at least magical explanations made to sound scientific. So that attracts writers who are passionate about real science.
Yup, and I can assure you that among current sf writers Greg Egan, Gregory Benford, Sean Williams, Joe Haldeman, Jack Dann, and Damien Broderick are all explicitly atheists:
http://metamagician3000.blogspot.com/2009/03/copy-edits-checked-for-voices-of.html
Sorry, I couldn’t resist this opportunity when I noticed it.