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Religion In My Stories
6 years ago
A reader noticed re: the latest story that "Lord of Hosts" is more commonly used as a Christian epithet (title) than the silly way I used it. That story happened because I was bored and the double meaning randomly occurred to me along with several other ideas. It's interesting to do a little audit of how I've handled religious subjects so far.
I've addressed religious themes more seriously in other stories, usually sympathetically. Several times I've used Mormon characters who're presented as good people: Meg who wants to minister to kitsune, Martin in "Everyone's Island" who's a financial backer of a seastead, Edward in "Liberation Game" who uses his religion to help to build a free society and prevent violence, and Linda from several stories who's a non-believer from a Mormon background and is stubborn but moral.
In terms of fantasy religion, "Striking the Root" has a devout character dealing with a society that rejects and mocks his "Lord" for reasons most don't even understand. "Striking Chains" in the same setting has the hero convert to a Christian-like religion and then overthrow his totalitarian empire with it. An unfinished third "Striking" book shows countries in danger of falling apart or being united in a terrible way by the upheaval of their old beliefs. And Stan of the two "Crafter" books becomes a worshiper of a new AI religion, but largely because his secular upbringing has been extremely vapid and unfulfilling to the point that hearing a good Christian hymn angers and dismays him. ("Why didn't anybody play these for me before?!") Several stories reference a forgotten hymn/anthem of the American Revolution, "Chester". ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqHHGLD_Ndk )
Overall I seem to write with a sort of arm's-length admiration toward religion: ambiguous toward it but seeing it as a more positive alternative to the bleeding hole left in a society that tears it out. Neither the Ludic proto-religion nor the Mithraic one in the "Striking" books is something I'd wholeheartedly agree with, but they're both positive forces in their settings. I'm hesitant about how much to say publicly on this subject, because I no longer feel safe expressing my opinions directly. But it's a theme that I intend to explore more in future stories. I'm also thinking about the marketing implications: how do you say "hey, come back, my work is furry transhumanist SF but it's the kind you might actually like!" to people who might already feel alienated from the whole genre?
I've addressed religious themes more seriously in other stories, usually sympathetically. Several times I've used Mormon characters who're presented as good people: Meg who wants to minister to kitsune, Martin in "Everyone's Island" who's a financial backer of a seastead, Edward in "Liberation Game" who uses his religion to help to build a free society and prevent violence, and Linda from several stories who's a non-believer from a Mormon background and is stubborn but moral.
In terms of fantasy religion, "Striking the Root" has a devout character dealing with a society that rejects and mocks his "Lord" for reasons most don't even understand. "Striking Chains" in the same setting has the hero convert to a Christian-like religion and then overthrow his totalitarian empire with it. An unfinished third "Striking" book shows countries in danger of falling apart or being united in a terrible way by the upheaval of their old beliefs. And Stan of the two "Crafter" books becomes a worshiper of a new AI religion, but largely because his secular upbringing has been extremely vapid and unfulfilling to the point that hearing a good Christian hymn angers and dismays him. ("Why didn't anybody play these for me before?!") Several stories reference a forgotten hymn/anthem of the American Revolution, "Chester". ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqHHGLD_Ndk )
Overall I seem to write with a sort of arm's-length admiration toward religion: ambiguous toward it but seeing it as a more positive alternative to the bleeding hole left in a society that tears it out. Neither the Ludic proto-religion nor the Mithraic one in the "Striking" books is something I'd wholeheartedly agree with, but they're both positive forces in their settings. I'm hesitant about how much to say publicly on this subject, because I no longer feel safe expressing my opinions directly. But it's a theme that I intend to explore more in future stories. I'm also thinking about the marketing implications: how do you say "hey, come back, my work is furry transhumanist SF but it's the kind you might actually like!" to people who might already feel alienated from the whole genre?
Again, I'm glad to see that there are authors addressing religion in a positive light in these dark days...even if it is Mormon. (I don't mean to start a fight, but I'm Catholic, and we don't count Mormons among our Christian brethren due to their radically different beliefs in many an area, especially theology.)