The Sci-Fi Religions of the Future
Over at Religion Dispatches, scholars Gabriel Mckee and Nick Street take a look at the growing intersection of religion and science fiction. From the formerly satirical Church of Jediism, to the intense religion-soaked warfare of Battlestar Galactica. According to both authors, the convergence of religion and science fiction fandom may provide a road-map for the future of religion.
“Nick Street’s recent essay on Battlestar Galactica viewed the show as a harbinger of the future of religion whose fans’ immersion in media and technology becomes a sort of spiritual practice in itself. One of the strangest religion stories in recent memory also involves a science fictional religion: the Church of Jediism … the [recent drunken] Vader attack [on members of the church] opens a window into an international new religious movement that, like Battlestar Galactica, may show us the shape of faith to come.”
McKee acknowledges that the confluence of sci-fi and faith is hardly new, obliquely referencing the Heinlein-inspired Pagan religion of The Church of All Worlds, and noting the sci-fi-faith of Scientology.
“Of course, neither BSG nor Star Wars is the first science fictional religion to gain prominence. The hedonistic Martian religion described by Robert A. Heinlein in Stranger in a Strange Land was a direct influence on late-60s communes, and Scientology was launched with an article in an issue of Astounding Science Fiction.”
Street, in his essay, hints that the demographical “nones” and “spiritual but not religious”, who are a prime component of sci-fi fandom, could very well be gestating the faiths of the future from the modern “Dionysian” Western theatrical tradition of movies and television.
“If the fate of the Dionysian cults that birthed the Western theatrical tradition holds any lesson for American Catholicism, mainline Protestantism and the other traditional religious institutions that are shedding members—and isn’t it delightful to think that it might?—it’s that the interplay between inspiration and the forms of religious practice and observance must always be fluid. Imposing a sober orthodoxy on rituals intended to pierce the veil that separates the mundane from the sublime almost always diminishes the force of the experience; then, as Plato observes in the Ion, priests and poets become ‘like Bacchic maidens who draw milk and honey from the rivers when they are under the influence of Dionysus but not when they are in their right mind.’”
There is every possibility, as we continue to move into a post-Christian world, that modern Paganism will soon be joined by any number of sci-fi fandom cults at ecumenical councils and inter-faith gatherings. The question is how will the large numbers of nature-oriented Pagans deal with science-oriented futurist religionists? Will there be tensions, or will we both see ourselves as fruits from the same “Dionysian” tree.
ADDENDUM: By using the phrase “nature-oriented” I wasn’t trying to set up an either-or dichotomy between nature and technology, only that science-fiction-based NRMs may have very different theologies from modern Pagan religions (many of which sacralize the natural world to differing degrees). These may (or may not) create tensions between the groups. Personally, I love my modern technology, including the laptop I use to write on this blog.
8 responses so far
Wow, it’s interesting that people are taking pop culture religions so seriously now.
The sci- fi worshippers are not pagans, I don’t think, but I’m not an expert in religous theory. It just seems to me that it takes more to be a Pagan then just to worship somebody that isn’t named Jesus or Mohammed. Further, a worship of science fiction necessarily conflicts with a worship of nature. You can’t have a high tech natural world; it’s one or the other unfortunately.
Also, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I don’t think that the science fiction based religions will have staying power. They are too easy to corrupt, because the religions are just the products of big companies, who can change the basics on a whim. Look at how Lucas changed the force in the Star Wars prequels. Midochlorians? WTF?
This reminds me of an old Erik Davis article that has some interesting things to say about Klingon religious rituals and their complex relationship with pagan ritual.
in a darkened Ramada Inn conference room, the Klingons prepare for their ritual, Tera’daq Tlhinganghom’mey. The hulking beings, all members or allies of the Karizan Empire, file past a table in silence, depositing their energy weapons in a pile. Incense chokes the room as twelve aliens, both male and female, take their seats around an altar. Candlelight reflects off the latex ridges of some foreheads, and the soundtrack of Bram Stoker’s Dracula plays on a nearby tape deck. The impressively-built Mok walks counter-clockwise about the altar, brandishing a hammer of Thor as he invokes the heroes of old and demands their presence at the gathering. The candles shake as he slams the hammer on the table. “We are between the worlds,” he announces.
….
There are more differences between fandom and Neopaganism than similarities, and even the Karizans insisted that the Tera’daq ritual was a “show-piece”—not a real Pagan ritual but a way to play with their magical leanings within the Trek mythos. But by performing their spiritual sensibilities in the trappings of a TV show, the Karizans also revived the oldest derivation of the word “fan:” fanaticus, a devotee of the ancient mystery cults.
Inherent in what you wrote, was the usumption that “nature loving pagans” and “science-oriented futurist” are opposite each other.
Not so sure that’s true.
Seems perfectly reasonable to me…..and I know some….that there are plenty of nature-loving science-oriented futurist pagans.
When you imagine the future, do you see more concrete being poured, or concrete being ripped up to make room for new trees? When you picture technology decades from now, do you see ever more elaborate manufactured electronics, or do you see things that integrate ever more closely with nature, using less and less resources to do it? Love of nature may be the technology of the future.
“Inherent in what you wrote, was the usumption that “nature loving pagans” and “science-oriented futurist” are opposite each other.”
Please see the addendum in my post. Any implied tech/nature dichotomy were unintended.
In reply to Tom,
I’d have to disagree with your initial premise – I fervently believe and hope we *can* have a high-tech natural world.
Rather than the bastard neither here-nor-there of suburbs, or over sanitised rural areas, I want to see cities intertwined with and surrounded by wild spaces. Permaculture gardens and solar panels. Seed banks and data banks. Things that go together like computer geeks and neopaganism.
And to explain further, I’m not sure anyone here is familiar with the theology of Battlestar Galactica, so I’ll summarise:
The humans are Hellenic (ie Greek) polytheists, being tyrannised by the Monotheist robots/Androids/’Cylons’.
I’m not kidding.
And the Hellenic religion thing, is neither played up, nor stage prop. It’s an underlying current of the culture. When the humans pray, they pray to the ‘Gods of the 12 Colonies’, individually named as the 12 Olympian Gods, Zeus, Hera, etc.
Devout characters have been shown unwrapping statues (apparently replicas of genuine roman idols?) of and placing them upon altars, before which they light candles and pray. Different characters have different patron Gods, and of course, some are functionally athiest. There’s been brief mention and appearance of women who appear to be Delphic-style Oracles, as part of an underlying cultural function.
There’s various discussions about it online, eg “Battlestar Galactica: Pagans in Space!” – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/4/125028/3269/26/490178
I’d love to see a full analysis of the pagan worship and devotion in this show.
Finally, while BSG is based on an existing pagan religion, we already have pagan religions built on Sci-fi foundations, eg Church of All Worlds. And well, it doesn’t matter if a big corporation changed things around – then you’d just get splinter sects. Isn’t that basically equivalent of what’s happened with Christianity in relation to the Catholic church?
Not to mention,
given the Cylon’s are the Monotheists?
That Last Supper image… wow, classic!
Actually, this discussion has reminded me that I’d like to watch the last season or so, and should get round to it.
So glad someone posted on this! It’s been rattling around in my brain as a possibility. Anyway, I love “Battlestar Galactica” and will have to check out all the links posted.