Jo Walton has a nice 2009 review of Molly Gloss’s The Dazzle of Day over on Tor.com.  This is another book to add to your reading list if you like faith represented in science fiction/fantasy, and want to present faith reasonably well–without being preachy, or limiting a faith.  Certainly this book caught my attention.  I went to a seminar once on Quakers in Science Fiction which rattled off quite a few of those books.  I no longer have that list with me, but there is an annotated list of Quaker references in science fiction at adherents.com site.  Let me hit some highlights for you, and then give you the link to Jo Walton’s essay on Molly Gloss’s The Dazzle of Day.

Some of the books with major Quaker themes/ characters/ plot lines include:

Nancy Kress  CROSSFIRE

David E. Morse  THE IRON BRIDGE

Judith Moffett  PENTERRA

Joan Slonsczewski  A DOOR INTO OCEAN, STILL FORMS ON FOXFIELD, THE WALL AROUND EDEN

How Can Quakers Be Helpful in Contemporary Science Fiction?

1. They value peace. When a lot of science fiction–and society–seems to glorify war, or see war as an inevitable part of our collective futures, Quakers do what they can to keep peace.  In our futures, a culture that establishes or tries for peace is a valuable asset. We’d like our futures to be war-free.  How do we get there?  Could the Quakers hold a key?  So much of our science fiction is becoming GrimDark.  Quakers as characters who value peace can help your story try to create peace as a goal–without fighting.  Though Friendly Persuasion was a big movie for Quakers–as it showed Quaker life well–unfortunately, the plot was about pushing a Quaker to the point where he would use a gun and go to war.  I hated that.  I don’t think that’s the only plot/arc available to Quaker characters: the above mentioned books and The Dazzle of Day have more than that arc to play with. If you want to understand more about creating peace, research some Quakers, consider throwing that into the mix.

2. They value equality.  While some came late to the Welcoming and Affirming practice, the services of Quakers can be a lovely lesson in re-distributed, decentralized power.  They tend to avoid creeds and hierarchies.  Sometimes you sit in a service, an unprogrammed meeting of worship, in a circle and wait for the Spirit to move someone to speak.  If it doesn’t happen, you just sit there, or you may sing.  Even when I attended a church in the Nebraska Yearly Meeting, a programmed worship service still had an extraordinary moment when the pastor stopped talking, and there was silence after the sermon for the Spirit to move in the congregation and then anyone–ANYONE–who wanted could stand up and speak.  It was Open Mic.  Quakers knew that the Spirit could speak through anyone–not just the pastor. Also, a higher majority of women were the strength and voice of the church than in most denominations I had attended.  (I think the United Church of Canada has that same equality of voice and strength).

3. They resisted authority.  Oh, did they. Some in the Friends community I knew refused to pay taxes as long as they went to War efforts.  And they were successful!  Your space-faring quakers might well be those who can lead a rebellion just through resistance.  They won’t fight, but they will resist.

4.  They have a strong community.  Want your characters to have a strong sense of community?  Quakers stick together. They aren’t ruled by following one charismatic leader–so therefore there’s a tendency to want to keep everyone together since anyone could have the wisdom that week.  And they’re modern.  They aren’t Amish, but they still feel separatist, even surrounded by society.  The Amish might not be able to run a spacecraft, but a whole bunch of Quakers–sure!  They love technology.  It doesn’t interfere with their faith.

I think something that helps Gloss’s The Dazzle of Day is the fact that it’s shaped like a memoir, with a memoir-voice.  Faith literature is mostly first person, and to really tap into the faith-side of your science fiction, going with a first person narrator gets your reader deep inside and intimate with a character and their deepest beliefs.  I think it’s a beautiful way to chart a spiritual journey.

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Here’s Jo Walton’s review of The Dazzle of Day:

The Dazzle of Day is an astonishing short novel about a generation starship.

There have been plenty of books set on generation starships by everyone from Heinlein to Wolfe, but thing that makes this stand out is how astonishingly real the characters are, and how well fitted to their world. Gloss has an immense gift for getting inside people’s heads. This story is about people both like and unlike us—they are culturally Quakers and they’ve been living on the ship for generations, which makes them very different, and yet they’re unmistakably people. They’re my favourite kind of characters, people I can understand and get inside their heads, and yet very different from the standard kinds of people you get in books. They’re very much individuals, not types, and they’re very much shaped by their culture and experiences.

For the whole review, follow this link.

I’m late to the game in loving Babylon 5, having dismissed it for years because everyone said it was “better than Star Trek” and that I “should” watch it.  I resist those kinds of marketings.  Tell me I “should” do something and I naturally resist.  This is why I only joined Team Harry Potter long after Book 7 was published.  I certainly didn’t like the implications that it might be better than Star Trek.

Be that as it may, I have now binge-watched the whole series, except for the last episode and a few movies–which I will have done by next week.  I was waiting to do an essay on the religion and faith I found embedded in Babylon 5, but I think this essay captures something of that–and so I’ll put it on the table to consider.  I’ll start the article here, and then provide a link so you can finish it.

I think the author does a great job at highlighting the Catholic-friendly parts of Babylon 5.  I think there’s room for me and others to discuss the other faiths in Babylon 5 as well, and when Straczynski goes full tilt away from organized religion.  Still Babylon 5 is a great example of weaving in faith subtly into a story.  It also deals with multiple faiths well and shows a kind of Buddhist nature at accepting all those faiths together.  (You can click on the title to go to the full article, or read part here and follow the link at the bottom of the excerpt.

More on Babylon 5 soon.

Guest Post: The Baptism of Contemporary Science Fiction, by Declan Finn

Stephanie remarks: For many years, I’ve wanted to write an extended essay on the Catholic-friendly philosophical and spiritual undertones of Babylon 5, so when Declan sent this to me, I squealed like a little girl. One day, when I have more time, I will write an extended addendum; for now, please enjoy Declan’s contribution!

While I have been both a cradle Catholic and a cradle geek, I can honestly say that the two rarely intersected for a good chunk of my life.  Most of the time, my thoughts on faith and science fiction consisted of wondering why the starship Enterprise was a naval vessel without a chaplain.

Then the year was 1993, and the name of the show was Babylon 5.

While never as big a hit as Star Trek, Babylon 5 – or simple B5, as fans call it – was one of the few science fiction shows that fought and won against the Star Trek franchise without being run over by the monolith.

But one thing that made it special was religion.

Originally, Babylon 5 had been easily dismissed as a Star Trek: Deep Space 9 ripoff, even though the creator, Joseph Michael Straczynski (best known as simply JMS) had pitched Babylon 5 to paramount the year before Deep Space 9. Even my family were a little wary of it at first. It was fun, but nothing particularly special.

Then came the episode By Any Means Necessary. A subplot revolved around an alien ambassador trying to obtain an artifact necessary for his religious ritual. The ritual involved burning a plant in the sunlight that touched a particular mountain on a particular day. Since they’re in space, the ambassador had to acquire the plant, and lead the ceremony at the same time as his people back home. When the station Commander finds a way to get the required plant, it was too late, the time had past. Until science fiction and faith collided. As the commander says:

What you forgot to take into account, is that sunlight also travels through space….The sunlight that touched the …. mountain 10 of your years ago, will reach this station in 12 hours …. But it’s still the same sunlight.

The ambassador agrees, and comments, “Commander, you’re a far more spiritual man than I give you credit for.”

The commander answers, “There are a couple of Jesuit teachers I know who might disagree with you.”

Welcome to Babylon 5, with the first openly Catholic commander in science fiction. My family was hooked.

Later on, in Season 2, there were two strong episodes that hit home. The first was called Comes the Inquisitor. The plot was simple: our heroes are in a war with an ancient enemy that make Sauron inLord of the Rings look nice, and an alien ally known as the Vorlons want to make certain that one of our heroes, named Delenn, is in it for the right reasons. What are the wrong reasons? To be a hero! To be adulated! To be the leader of a holy crusade!

Follow this link for the rest of the article.

Interesting Post in the Deseret News National about Faith in Science Fiction movies we thought might be food for thought here.

In “Man of Steel,” the most recent Superman film, when Superman’s parents send their son away from their dying planet to save his life, his mom worries he will not be accepted on Earth because he is an alien to the planet.

“He will be an outcast. They’ll kill him,” his mother says.

“How? He’ll be a god to them,” says his father, Jor-El, who believes Superman will be an ideal Earth’s inhabitants will strive to reach.

Some might see Christian symbolism in this scene, but it’s not the only religious reference in the film. “Man of Steel,” which some call a “soft” science-fiction film (along with other superhero movies), is replete with religious allusions. And superhero films do not have a monopoly on religious metaphors. In fact, religious and spiritual themes are woven into the plots of many popular science fiction films, TV shows and novels.

“We have so many TV shows and movies where you see the same type of archetypal characters, plots and problems that you would see in religion (and) in religious texts,” says Barna Donovan, who teaches classes about the relationship between science fiction and religion at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, N.J.

Science and Religion Converge

The strong ties between science fiction and religion may seem odd; after all, some religious fundamentalists and a number of atheists constantly pit science and religion against each other.

But Dr. James McGrath, who teaches in the Religion and Philosophy Department at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind., says a convergence between the two is natural.

“Humans have wondered about our place in the universe even before we had modern science to help provide some answers about the physical form and nature of that universe. We’ve envisaged our cosmos as full of powerful beings who come from the sky, and select human beings as having rare opportunities to travel up there,” says McGrath, adding that science-fiction authors today can explore questions that religions throughout history have attempted to answer.

Arthur Doweyko, a scientist and award-winning author of sci-fi short stories, agrees that science fiction allows authors to explore humanity’s pressing questions about existence.

“In creating a world, a civilization, at any time and place, the author necessarily needs to consider the manner in which the people of that time and place have dealt with the question of existence,” says Doweyko. “Without that view expressed either directly or cleverly insinuated through the story, the characters will lack the moral and ethical motivation for their actions.”

Read more at http://national.deseretnews.com/article/1246/Faith-in-film-Why-science-fiction-movies-abound-with-religious-themes.html#cP5M86EDBVyzgDYy.99

The article goes on to ask questions about why authors use religious metaphor and why we like it.  One of the most interesting concepts is something I think that makes fiction much more powerful than nonfiction.

“‘Like music, fiction can worm its way past prejudice, bias and dogmatism and cut straight to a reader’s intellect, heart and soul,” Bohnhoff says, adding that she uses science fiction to help readers examine a subject (such as race or religion) in a different way.”

Take a read of the article and let us know if you agree with the author—why do YOU think so many religious allusions find their way into science fiction stories, especially popular movies?  The author, Kandra Polatis, comes up with some interesting ideas, and so do those she interviews, for why we want to read about faith, or why religious themes seem to find their ways into our favorite stories.

In “Man of Steel,” the most recent Superman film, when Superman’s parents send their son away from their dying planet to save his life, his mom worries he will not be accepted on Earth because he is an alien to the planet.

“He will be an outcast. They’ll kill him,” his mother says.

“How? He’ll be a god to them,” says his father, Jor-El, who believes Superman will be an ideal Earth’s inhabitants will strive to reach.

Some might see Christian symbolism in this scene, but it’s not the only religious reference in the film. “Man of Steel,” which some call a “soft” science-fiction film (along with other superhero movies), is replete with religious allusions. And superhero films do not have a monopoly on religious metaphors. In fact, religious and spiritual themes are woven into the plots of many popular science fiction films, TV shows and novels.

“We have so many TV shows and movies where you see the same type of archetypal characters, plots and problems that you would see in religion (and) in religious texts,” says Barna Donovan, who teaches classes about the relationship between science fiction and religion at St. Peter’s University in Jersey City, N.J.

Science and religion converge

The strong ties between science fiction and religion may seem odd; after all, some religious fundamentalists and a number of atheists constantly pit science and religion against each other.

But Dr. James McGrath, who teaches in the Religion and Philosophy Department at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind., says a convergence between the two is natural.

“Humans have wondered about our place in the universe even before we had modern science to help provide some answers about the physical form and nature of that universe. We’ve envisaged our cosmos as full of powerful beings who come from the sky, and select human beings as having rare opportunities to travel up there,” says McGrath, adding that science-fiction authors today can explore questions that religions throughout history have attempted to answer.

Arthur Doweyko, a scientist and award-winning author of sci-fi short stories, agrees that science fiction allows authors to explore humanity’s pressing questions about existence.

“In creating a world, a civilization, at any time and place, the author necessarily needs to consider the manner in which the people of that time and place have dealt with the question of existence,” says Doweyko. “Without that view expressed either directly or cleverly insinuated through the story, the characters will lack the moral and ethical motivation for their actions.”

Religious metaphors in sci-fi

Religious concepts are commonly portrayed figuratively in science fiction, explained Doweyko. He said religious ideologies in the long-running series “Star Trek” coincided with an earthly belief system.
Read more at http://national.deseretnews.com/article/1246/Faith-in-film-Why-science-fiction-movies-abound-with-religious-themes.html#cP5M86EDBVyzgDYy.99