SF Signal's Mind Meld: "Is Science Fiction Antithetical to Religion?"

I was particularly pleased to be included in this week's Mind Meld question at SF Signal: "Is Science Fiction Antithetical to Religion?" My answer appears alongside a plethora of thoughtful contributions from the likes of Mike Resnick, Adam Roberts, Ben Bova, James Morrow, and D.G.D. Davidson. The rundown: basically, everybody answered "no," with greater and lesser degrees of qualification. Some thoughts on individual responses:

Lou Anders' last two paragraphs are a somewhat more clear expression of what I was trying to get it at the end of my response:

What I do think is antithetical to science fiction is fundamentalism and extreme orthodoxy. The scientific hypothesis, which is the basis of all legitimate science, and thus, the bedrock for fiction framed in a scientific mode of thinking, is predicated on the notion that observation informs, shapes and expands our comprehension of reality. If you believe that you already know everything there is to know... any fiction that flows from these presuppositions will be propaganda, not art. Theodore Sturgeon said that science fiction's job is to "ask the next question." As long as you believe that there IS a next question, and are prepared for any answer, even one you might not expect, then you are okay in my book... But tell me you've got a direct and irrefutable line on truth, and I'm afraid I'll stop reading. Personally, I'm not so concerned with final answers. For me, the real fun lies in finding more questions.

Ben Bova gives the most qualification to his "no" answer, but I think that qualification largely stems from a definition error. He states that

"Science tries to find the truth, knowing that we can never be satisfied that we hold the truth in our hands. Religion believes that it has the ultimate and complete truth, and anyone who disagrees should be shunned - or worse."

Where he says "religion," he really means "fundamentalism"—as in the quote from Anders above. Religion, in fact, does not inherently believe that it knows the full and complete truth. The best theology, from Plato to Augustine to Alfred North Whitehead, depends on speculation, thought experiments, and best-guesses; the biggest crime of fundamentalism is its theological laziness.

James Wallace Harris theorizes a historical progression of human thought in which religion leads to fiction which leads to philosophy which leads to science. He describes religion as "a descendent of fiction"—but given that progression, isn't science a descendent of fiction too?

Carl Vincent declares: "Science fiction has never been antithetical to my personal religious experience, it has always enhanced it." Hear, hear.

Adam Roberts—whose novel Land of the Headless I just finished reading and should be writing about soon—states that the thesis of his recent book The History of Science Fiction is "that science fiction as a genre has its roots precisely in the religious conflicts of the Reformation."

Andrew Wheeler cites Isaac Asimov as the clearest example of an author whose atheism is inextricable from his SF, citing the psychohistory of the Foundation sequence as his evidence. I tend to disagree, and I actually think Psychohistory is Asimov's most religious idea. In chapter 4 of The Gospel According to Science Fiction, I write about Hari Seldon as a God-analog who providentially guides the development of human civilization. Orson Scott Card agrees; in the introduction to his collection Mortal Gods he states that Foundation and its sequels "invariably affirm both the need for and the existence of a purposer."

John C. Wright turns in the longest and most complex response, which begins by contrasting H. G. Wells (an atheist author of soft SF) and Jules Verne (a Catholic author of hard SF). I take issue only with his statement that "Progressives... regard religion as one of those things to be left behind on the junk pile of history." Some of us progressives believe in progressive religion, too!

James Morrow gives the closest thing to a "yes" answer, though he kind of ends up answering a different question (about the overlap of SF and fantasy), so he's a bit tough to pin down.

Some books that I'm going to read as a direct result of this Mind Meld discussion include: Adam Roberts' The History of Science Fiction, God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion by Brother Guy Consolmagno, Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life by Steven Jay Gould, the forthcoming End of the Century by Chris Roberson, and Variable Star by Spider Robinson. Also, my desire to read Ian McDonald's Brasyl is now even bigger; I really need to get a copy of that.

A couple responses to the discussion:
Michael A. Burstein jokes that Mike Resnick "outed him" as a religious author: "Why do people in the science fiction community know that I'm religiously observant?"
Swan Tower rightly bemoans the absence of non-Western religions in the discussion.

Comments

[Åka]

I agree with most of your comments, but I found James Wallace Harris' ideas very interesting. I have been playing with thoughts about science fiction as meaning making literature (but not arrived at any good formulations of it yet), and in that it certainly has some common ground with religion.

Have you read Jupiter by Ben Bova? It had some almost interesting parts.

[D. G. D. Davidson]

I disagree with everyone's characterization of Fundamentalism, which does not teach that it has the complete truth about everything anymore than any other conservative religious stance does.

[Gabriel Mckee]

Have you seen any Ray Comfort videos? That man is certainly not listening to reason-- though he's an expert propagandist.

You're right, though-- He's not representative of all fundamentalists, just a particularly super-super-conservative subset of them, to whom many of the comments do, I think, apply.

[James McGrath]

I hope you won't miss IO9's recent short piece on how Cylons might convert humans to their religion: http://io9.com/374914/how-would-cylons-convert-us-to-their-religion

Since Ray Comfort was mentioned, I'll also share an old post of mine with video clips of the banana, peanut butter and pineapple arguments:

http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2007/08/banana-and-peanut-butter-arguments-on.html

Finally, any suggestions on where to publish very short stories of sci-fi exploring religious themes?

[umbrarchist]

{{{ The best theology, from Plato to Augustine to Alfred North Whitehead, depends on speculation, thought experiments, and best-guesses; the biggest crime of fundamentalism is its theological laziness. }}}

Of course the best theology comes from European culture.

[Gabriel Mckee]

"Theology" is a Western term, and applies best to Western thought. But Ibn al-'Arabi (for example) certainly fits the bill, too.

And to be briefly pedantic-- Augustine was from North Africa.

[Gabriel Mckee]

Oh, wait-- Ibn al-'Arabi is from Al-Andalus (aka Spain). Al-Ghazali, maybe?