# So if we HAVE to have a sci-fi writer create a religion... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349 "2005-06-29T12:54:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/21 "2005-06-29T18:49:10Z")
I came in to post this this morning, but got sidetracked by the intrusive _work_. [Church of All Worlds](http://www.caw.org/articles/WhatIsCaw.html) Personally, I would probably opt for a church that promoted sexuality over one that charges admission and hooks you up to a lie detector…if I were shopping around for one… ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/22 "2005-06-29T19:49:41Z")
Science fiction be damned. There is only One True God. [Gaze ye upon His Yellowness and fear ye His wrath.](http://www.flamingmayo.com/firstchurchofpacman/index2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/23 "2005-06-29T20:15:56Z")
Cthulhu fhtagn! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/24 "2005-06-29T20:27:54Z")
In addition to CAW, there’s the [Avalon](http://www.isleofavalonfoundation.com/courses/priestesstrain.html) bunch, who are basically recreating the fantasy recreation of MZB in _Mists of Avalon_. Actually, I’d estimate about 90% of neo-paganism’s ideas of Goddess religions of now and of olde come from Marion. (Ironic, since she repented her evil ways and became a born-again Christian before her death, I hear.) ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/25 "2005-06-29T20:43:50Z")
If I had to pick a SF writer to form a religion, it would be Harry Harrison. Because many of his stories are anti-religious. In The Streets of Ashketon and Rescue Mission, holy men end up being the bad guys. Only they’re not evil, they truly want to do what’s right, only they’re too ignorant to know what that is. In The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell, Christianity is revived far in the future and the two main characters think it’s silly. A religion created by a man who is against religion. I like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/26 "2005-06-29T20:51:27Z")
What was the name of the religion in _The Sirens of Titan_? That’s my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/27 "2005-06-29T21:03:39Z")
We’ve gone this far without mentioning Walter Miller, Jr.? Take an ordinary, innoculous artifact out of context and build a religion around it. While not a science fiction writer, I think Joseph Heller, author of _Catch-22_ and _God Knows_, would make an ideal “imagineer” for a new religion, loading it with a sense of the absurd on top of plenty of irong, and iced over with a saccharine frosting of sincere illusion and misdirection. Or, if you’re into the indecipherable and dystopic, Franz Kafka. Then again, I’ve always wanted Cthulhu for President (“Why vote for the lesser evil?”), so maybe HP Lovecraft would be a good choice. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/28 "2005-06-29T21:17:33Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > What was the name of the religion in The Sirens of Titan? That’s my favorite. The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/29 "2005-06-29T21:19:53Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > What was the name of the religion in _The Sirens of Titan_? That’s my favorite. Do you mean _Cat’s Cradle_? The religion is Bokononism. From The First Book of Bokonon: > [@](#): > > Apearing on the title page: “Don’t be a fool! Close this book at once! It is nothing but foma!”\* > > The book commences: > > ``` > All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies. > > ``` > > In the beginning, God created earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness. > > And God said, “Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done.” And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. “What is the purpose of all this?” he asked politely. > > “Everything must have a purpose?” asked God. > > “Certainly,” said man. > > “Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,” said God. And He went away. > > Bokonon says of his first book: “Of course it’s trash” I love Vonnegut. \*“Foma” is defined in the book variously as “lies,” “harmless untruths” and “a useful and harmless sort of horseshit.” ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/30 "2005-06-29T21:27:23Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Do you mean _Cat’s Cradle_? Nope, I meant _The Sirens of Titan_. **kelly5078** nailed it, the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/31 "2005-06-29T21:30:16Z")
My bad. I forgot about the CoGtUI. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/32 "2005-06-29T21:33:45Z")
No one’s up for Philip K Dick religion? [Mercerism](http://www.answers.com/topic/do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep), perhaps According to legend, Mercer had the power to revive dead animals but angered local officials, who attacked him with radioactive cobalt. This forced Mercer into a tomb world. He continues to try to ascend back to Earth, forever climbing an enormous hill. Adherents of Mercerism use an empathy box, an electronic device which instills in its user a hallucination of sharing Mercer’s sufferings. Mercerism blends the concept of a life-death-rebirth deity with the values of unity and empathy, all of which are inspiring to those left on a dying Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/33 "2005-06-29T21:44:28Z")
Harlan Ellison’s version of the Genesis story and subsequent characterization of the subtil serpent in “The Deathbird” is actually pretty close to my preferred allegorical interpretation of the creation myth. When I was a teenager, my younger brother bought _The Necronomicon_ and really thought it was a religious/mystical text. He wanted to do one of the rituals in it but the necessary components were too weird for him to acquire. For all I know he still thinks it’s real, since I don’t think he’s ever read Lovecraft. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/34 "2005-06-29T22:03:37Z")
I’m kind of partial the the religion of Elua in Jacqueline Carey’s _Kushiel_ books, myself. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/35 "2005-06-29T23:53:48Z")
There are already people who call themselves Jedi … That’s got to count as an SF religion, surely? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/36 "2005-06-30T00:25:09Z")
I think I could accept _The Last Question_ by Asimov as a religious text. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/37 "2005-06-30T00:33:51Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > If I had to pick a SF writer to form a religion, it would be Harry Harrison. I gotta go with HH as well, for his conceptualization of Individual Mutualism (_The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted_). Not really spiritual, but a darned good way to live. Especially if you couple it with Heinlein’s Rational Anarchy (_The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/38 "2005-06-30T03:12:29Z")
The voices in my head told me to move this to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/39 "2005-06-30T03:41:50Z")
I think **The Church of All Worlds** would be okay. They know how to party. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349/40 "2005-06-30T04:08:07Z")
Say, what was the name of Niven’s religion with the Dread God Finagle? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-we-have-to-have-a-sci-fi-writer-create-a-religion/310349.md?page=3)