When D.G.D. Davidson does get around to updating his blog the Sci Fi Catholic it is usually worth waiting for. His latest post Science Fiction and Religion is a case in point.
Over at Grasping for the Wind, Steve Davidson, who may or may not be my evil twin (or maybe I’m his evil twin, bwahaha) has an essay entitled “Science Fiction and Religion, a Marriage NOT Made in Heaven, Nor Even the Laboratory.” That title could lose at least four or five words without harm, but never mind that. Davidson’s argument is that science fiction absolutely must be written by atheists, and must either ignore religion or attack it, or it is not science fiction.
Ah yes the Atheist-Puritans. Don’t want any foul theists polluting the genre. While it is certainly true that so many of the Grand Masters in SF have been atheists or at least secularists it is hard to imagine the number of great books in the genre that would have to be excluded by this definition of science fiction. I guess we should blacklist those who do not conform to this standard and cull the Hugo awardees that dared to be theists and write SF. It would be equally ridiculous if I decided to read only SF and other books if they were written by theists. I would miss out on so much great storytelling if I did such a foolish thing. When I read fiction it does not mean that I have to buy into any of the underlying philosophy and I can enjoy a well-written story even as I note those errors. But the Atheist-Puritans or the so-called new atheists demand a ritual purity when it comes to religion – unclean – unclean. Isaac Asimov was quite upfront about his atheism, but he was no jerk about it. I think ole Asimov who was my first love as a reader would have also found such blog posts quite odd. The more I think about the term Atheist-Puritans the more apt I think my term is – that is if somebody else hasn’t already coined it. To upend the quote of another atheist H. L. Mencken:
Athiestic-Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy being a theist.
The Atheist-Puritan goes through life being offended at roadside crosses, religious symbols in government seals, Christmas Trees, and any decoration or ornament that points to belief in God. And with SF being the scriptures for some atheists of course doctrinal purity must be maintained.
Anyway just go and read post Science Fiction and Religion.
11 comments
Ah, c’mon, I update my blog almost every day now.
Oh, please. There is a great deal of religious science fiction. One thinks of Zenna Henderson, Orson Scott Carr, Walter Miller, Anthony Boucher, James Blish, etc. Read more widely.
The Chicken
Sorry for being rude. I just popped in because I haven’t visited The Curt Jester in some time and the site has been on my mind. I did not expect to leave a comment and a slightly rude one, at that. Still, there is a lot of religious science fiction that is religion-positive. Read Zenna Henderson’s, The People series to see what I mean or Anthony Boucher’s short story, “The Search for St. Aquin.” Again, sorry for the remark about reading more widely.
The Chicken
Asimov was my childhood SF hero, and I followed in his atheist footsteps for a while. However, I was impressed by one article he wrote, called The Judo Argument, where, if I remember correctly, he showed the logical problems with disproofs of the existence of God. He ended by saying that although he didn’t personally believe in God, he did not want to accept bad argumentation, even when it supported his view. I really respected him for that.
I think Asimov would have gotten out his (theoretical) shotgun. I mean, you get rid of the theists, you get rid of Tony Boucher. Ditching an sf author/editor who’s also a great conversationalist and a gourmet cook, just because he’s also a serious Catholic? You’d have to have been maaaaaad.
Of course, Asimov also ditched his “sf must be Communist” buddies back at the first Worldcon (New York in 1939), because there was no way he was going to brood over in the coffee shop across the street talking politics, when he could go into the hall, talk to fans and authors, and watch a screening of Metropolis. A man has to have priorities.
(Asimov flirted with Communism and Socialism back in the day, but in truth he loved Capitalism, work, and getting paid for his work. He seems to have realized this after a while.)
A canticle for St Liebowitz, brilliant Catholic SF. I forget who wrote it, but there is google for that. Also CS Lewis wrote SF.
The Masked Chicken,
I guess I did not make my point as well as I wanted. My point was that I do not restrict myself to only reading SF by believers, but that I certainly do read SF and Fantasy by believers. Gene Wolfe, Tim Powers, Michael Flynn, ect are among my favorite authors. Outside of Catholic circles of course Orson Scott Card and may others are included in my reading. There are plenty of other names to mention including so many who contributed to the Golden Age of SF and earlier.
Jeff, I was not (not!) meaning to comment on your post, but on the original article you referenced in what I said, above. It was quite clear to me that you read widely and appreciate the science fiction which is of moral character.
Okay, I’m about to give a lecture. Everybody ready?
There is a reason that atheists are attracted to the writing of science fiction, these days. Let me set this in context.
Back when Hugo Grensback started the science fiction magazine, in 1926, the new dominant mass media phenomenon, the motion picture was undergoing rigorous scrutiny. In 1924, Will H. Hays had introduced a set of moral recommendations for films that were eventually adopted in 1930 (for fear of government intervention) that reduced the amount of depravity in film to almost nothing. This was also the era of the rising Fundamentalist Movement which was, in part, a reaction to the libertine youth movement after WWI.
Although early pulp fiction could be very tawdry, the Depression, with its retreat to moral sobriety, as well as what was happening in other Mass Media, caused most of the science fiction of the period, 1930 – 1960, to be straight-jacketed under a more or less Judeo-Christian moral code. One will search, in vain, to find an objectionable cover from , Astounding, throughout its print run. Indeed, Mystery and Suspense covers are much more immodest.
The pulp era ended about 1955 and radio science fiction in about 1958. This was the era of a growing psychology movement in the U. S. and Wertham’s, The Seduction of the Innocent, which had such a chilling effect on the pulps and comic books in the 1950’s may have had an effect on science fiction, as well.
One will search far and wide to find any morally objectionable content during this period. Asimov, himself, comments on this in one of his essays. Most writers, even atheists, were careful of the moral sensibilities of the era. Most of the science fiction was careful not to run aground of the Church.
This is not to say that there weren’t believers both writing and publishing science fiction. Indeed, staunch Catholic, William White (pseudonym, Anthony Boucher), started the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1949. It contains one objectionable cover, in 1955.
Atheism was not yet the sort of movement it was to become in the 1970’s and many of the atheists in the pulp era made a living writing not only science fiction, but mystery stories, as well, so they were certainly sensitive to the presence of good and evil.
Enter the 1960’s. The first generation after WWII had been greatly influenced by the Beat generation – the between era after the War, where the children of the Depression had come of age. Because, perhaps of a reaction to the draconian deprivations of the Depression, these children of the 1950’s were materialists and proto-nonconformists. It was they who influenced the writers of the 1960s, including science fiction writers. This, plus a rising youth movement, which often puts pressure on moral systems, as well as the rise of an atheism movement, either allowed or encouraged science fiction writers to take more chances. The sexual revolution changed the face of what could and could not be discussed in stories. Indeed, the miniskirt came from the movie, Forbidden Planet, in 1956 ( a Disney production, no less!).
In this environment, without the control of a religious culture, atheist writers flocked to science fiction as an outlet for their ideas. Thus, most of the true atheism in science fiction is of relatively recent vintage.
Science is about the search for the truth. As such, it cannot be long parted from theology. Science fiction, as it is understood, today, is more about social commentary, thinly-veiled, than about a true search for the truth. Since (and I know I am going to insult some people) atheism is not really about a search for the truth, but an assertion of the ego, science fiction has tended to become more personalized and ego-centric as it has lost any semblance of transcendence.
So, the idea that science fiction authors are, by-and-large, atheists, is a relatively new phenomenon. It was not this way in the beginning, but science fiction invited all types, rogues and ruffians, saints and sinners, to write. Religion became less influential in society just at the time of a rising visual Mass Media and just as the image became more important than the word, so the concept became more important than the expression in modern science fiction: images are often graphic and shocking, although there are signs that this trend may be playing itself out.
For proof by counter-example, I offer these authors/works as evidence that important science fiction can be done by theists:
Anthony Boucher [Catholic]: Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1949 – ); Far and Away; Eleven Fantasy and SF Stories (1955)
Zenna Henderson [Mormon, later non-dispensational Christian]: The People (19610: note – William Shatner starred in a film version f one of the stories.
William Miller [Catholic]: A Canticle for Liebowitz (1959). Note: there is a little-known follow-up novel.
Orson Scott Carr [Mormon]: Ender’s Game (1985)
C. S. Lewis [Anglican]: Out of the Silent Planet (1938). First part of his Space Trilogy.
Medeleine L’Engle [Evangelical]: A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
James Blish [Church of England?]: A Case of Conscience (1959). Part of a theistic trilogy including: Doctor Mirabilis, Black Easter, The Day After Judgment
As I am running out of time, I will end with a link to a bibliography of theistic science fiction.
In summary, while it is true that atheists can find a home in the wild reaches of science fiction, so can theists and theistically-themed works. Any comments beyond this are…science fiction.
The Chicken
P. S. Jeff, I hope this isn’t too long. One could write a Master’s thesis on this topic.
Your Mencken quotation made me think immediately of all the “Spirit of Vatican II Puritans” out there who suffer from SOV2-Puritanism: the fear that someone, somewhere, is celebrating the Latin Mass.
Three names spring quickly to mind: Ray Bradbury (some sort of Shavian theist at least), Cordwainer Smith (high Anglican), and Murray Leinster (who actually thought his way into the Catholic Church thru the study of Aquinas). Disqualify these three on grounds of non-atheism and one leaves a pretty big hole in the history of SF, n’est-ce pas?