Hannah Yeung: "Dear Caroline Yoachim: A Comment on Religion in Speculative Fiction"

Dear Caroline Yoachim: A Comment on Religion in Speculative Fiction

by Hannah Yeung

Speculative Fiction is often the nest of representation of issues familiar to our world. While obviously the Twilight series might have an entirely different literary value than The Giver might have, it’s not like Bella and Edward don’t think about the implications of their romantic escapades. Whether through high or low fantasy, these novels are often able to address controversial aspects of societal conflicts. Some popular issues that are political infrastructure, personal values, and moral pursuits. It seems generally easier to express and explain these problems in stories where abilities or qualities can physically manifest and shape characteristics of a character.

One particular subject that I think is under-explored in SF is religion. Being a highly religious person myself, religion is something that dominates a large portion of my mind, and therefore my mindset. Often, I find that religion is represented in a largely negative perspective. I believe that this is because of the tendency to believe that science can explain everything, if not now, then eventually. Because of this, religion can be often seen as frivolous or irrational. For example, in Isaac Asimov's Reason, religion is portrayed as illogical and narrow minded. The rogue robot, Cutie, believes that the ship’s engine is the creator and “god”, instead of his human counterparts, who he considers to be inferior to him. Interestingly enough, this creates notable parallel with people nowadays, who use technology and rely on it as if it might be some kind of deity. In an interview with Orson Scott Card, he said that “In our culture, intellectuals have become so uniformly a-religious or anti-religious... the followers are ignorant and stupid and easily fooled, and the leaders are exploitative and cynical… Most fiction has become, in short, an instrument of propaganda for the established religion of our time…” Because religion and the lack thereof can be such a sensitive topic to many, SF can provide the perfect grounds to explore and represent controversial topics in more sensitive ways. It is also an excellent approach to explore the intricacies of these topics and expound upon them.

I want to see more works where religion is carefully researched and thought through. After all, the millions of people who are religious aren’t all either stupid or tricked into their respective religion, and certainly- like most anything else- there negatives and positives to religion. I am not expecting every representation to be positive, as that would be neither realistic nor actual representative of the views that exist in people’s minds. One of the best ways to represent it in my opinion is using fantasy, and that is not just because of my personal bias for fantasy. Fantasy is the best stage for controversial ideas, as it allows for personification and characterization of issues and positions that can be portrayed using mythology and folklore. Thus, a high fantasy is often used to represent complicated subjects that are multifaceted- such as religion. Some famous examples are The Giver and Lord of the Rings, amongst other Tolkien works.

Fantasy is a particularly good tool for matters that involve personal sensitivities. because the issue at hand can be given distance and therefore perspective. With all this said, I am glad to see to see SF writers dealing with various complicated subjects in interesting ways. Especially with religion, I hope to see more accurate and complex pieces created that include and/or center around it.