A bit of a hot topic today – is there religion in your future?
Sci fi has a long and sketchy history of dealing with religion. In many stories of the future, religion fades away in the face of reason. In others, it becomes a driving force.
And yes, sometimes Sci Fi writers even create their own religions. And we all know how that ends.
So my questions today: As a writer, do you include religion in your sci fi, and if so, what’s it like in the future? Will our current religions continue to predominate, will they fade away, or will they be replaced by something new?
Spirituality is a core part of humanness, and as far as I’m concerned an essential part of society. That spirituality doesn’t have to be codified into a religion, necessarily, but if social patterns are part of the story I would expect some kind of shared belief system.
I think of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land as the perfect example.
For me it’s also important that shared belief systems aren’t always a negative influence in the story. I have no love for fundamentalist bigotry, but I’m really tired of the one-dimensional religious zealot bad guy, or religion as oppressive force threatening the hero.
Shamanic spirituality is a wholesome force in my book Traveling Light, and I’d be interested in reading stories in which other belief systems played an important and healthy role.