Great and thoughtful responses so far.
Unfortunately, even the discussion of a religion, beliefs, faith or even God tends to make many people uncomfortable... I'll let everyone form their own opinions as to why. Equally so, just as some folks seem to have trouble finding resolution between the creation/evolution question (even unable to find a way to merge the concepts), some folks tend to assume future peoples will be too advanced for faith in an unseen, something akin to 'no heart all mind.'
Having developed a rather intricate religion for my barbarian culture, I feel many folks are truly missing out on the degree of depth adding such to an individual or fictional society can give to those characters. Folks seem to struggle to find reason and foundations for resolve with their characters. Well, there it is. Why does the bad guy do these particular good things or visa versa? Why will this character walk into the storm when no one else will and so on?
In my latest work the protagonist has a very strong conventional faith involving various religious beliefs for those very reasons. It actually helps give reason for extremes, inner torments, drives and motivations. That said, going right back to what I said above about comfort levels, I often have pointed out to me how I used 'gawd' in place of God when a character is cursing or invoking the name of God in vain. So I get it though in a different regard.
So, some I would guess simply avoid the question for whatever the reason. In my case it helps me to add depth, strength, vulnerable points and so on. Then again, I've found what works for me and am very comfortable with it. Not everyone is I suppose, yet that doesn't matter, it works for me.
K2
This is exactly what I am getting at. Including complex religious beliefs can add a great deal of depth to a character, as well as make your story more appealing to people of faith, which actually is a decent market for SF.
I think there are depictions, if you delve deeper into the genre. Dune deals with various religions a lot - the Bene Gesserit are far from luddites, for instance. Also, in the sequels to Ender’s Game, Scott Card does a lot about religions, including a main character who develops a pretty humanist religion. Just because some books don’t do religion well doesn’t mean some don’t! Also, Dark Eden by Beckett utilises religious divergent (although he probably does lean a little towards religion = conservatism)
I have religious characters in all my books but it’s not something I choose to dwell on for too long - I suspect mainly because, being Northern Irish, it’s something I prefer not to delve into. It’s depressing enough when religion forms the basis of your schooling, voting options and law making without having to write about the darn thing too
having said that, not including references to religion and depicting some of the characters as religious would paint a wholly false picture of NI, so there are many in it (often quietly religious as opposed to stridently so* although my next NI book will probably be less soft on some of that tendency here)
* I think I do that because people equate NI with intolerant religious eejits when, really, most religious people here are simply people of faith.
I certainly don't think every story should have religion as a major component any more than I think every story should address racism or sexism. If we button hole ourselves into things we must write about, we limit the diversity of stories available to us, and this seems the opposite of what we are trying to accomplish. My suggestion is, should we choose to depict religious persons, we should do so fairly wherever possible. And, based on what you said so far, it seems like you do exactly that.
You are absolutely right that
Dune presents complex religious systems, though I haven't read the
Ender’s Game sequels or
Dark Eden yet... maybe I will have to add them to my list. Thanks for the suggestions! I would even be fine with Luddite religious groups if their rejection of technology made sense and could be understood by a rational person. The Amish, for example, are about as Luddite as they come, but they aren't rejecting technology so much as the fast paced, industrial lifestyle certain technologies push. And, I hear many people complain about exactly this, so perhaps the Amish have a point? At minimum, one could see how a reasonable person could come to their conclusions. And, I think that is what catches me about many depictions of religious people in SF; one cannot see how a reasonable person would come to their conclusions.
Don't have time for a proper answer, as getting ready for work. On a Sunday - irony. Don't like working Sundays, not because of any religious leaning, but because I do like the idea of a communal day of rest, where most people can chill and get together.
Anyway, religious figures in SFF seem to work best where they talk about a spiritual, internalised, purpose. Think Book in Firefly. Another example would be the priest in Joe Donnelly's Bane - great book if you ever find a copy, although fantasy, not sf. Neither bring their religion to the page/screen, other than in passing, but they do talk about higher purposes, and looking at something outside yourself, even if it's only doing something for the community.
Aargh! Must dash.
I almost mentioned Book as one of the exceptions to this principle, and hats off to Joss Whedon for creating a strong character with whom he fundamentally disagrees with. What really strikes me about him is that he has strong convictions, even about things the other crew members are doing (Inara seems to know Book doesn't approve of her career choice), but he is still kind and caring to everyone. The only verbal disapproval I can think of is the "special hell" bit. So, again, strong convictions, but caring about people enough to not discuss them unless a third party is at risk.
I will have to track down
Bane, though. I cannot say I am at all familiar with it, but it sounds like it must be good, based on your recommendation. Overall, I think Fantasy does better with religious characters than SF, which is why I focused in on the latter.
I look forward to hearing more of your comments when you have the time!
I think the basic division in religion, and depictions of it, is between the societal/cultural aspects (exoteric) and the mystical aspects (esoteric). Some religious characters will be only cultural adherents, some will have what they feel to be a genuine connection with, or experience of, the divine. The exoteric aspects will probably be of interest more to worldbuilders and writers with an anthropological bent, but without the esoteric, those religions and the characters within them might feel a bit hollow. It might be difficult to get inside the skin of a truly religious or mystical character unless the writer has some kind of experience of it themselves, but maybe not -- maybe it just needs them to hook into another part of the psyche that has the same root.
Religion plays a big part in my books. I'm interested in both cultural and mystical aspects, and where both come from, the mix between human psychology and society and (perhaps) the actual divine. One of my favourite characters (and readers', I've been told), and definitely the easiest to write, is the most "religious". It's not the cultural trappings of his religion that most interest me, it's the powerful emotional component of his need for God.
I think you hit the nail on the head. It seems to me the overwhelming majority of religious characters are written with only the exoteric or behavioral aspects discussed, with little to no discussion on the esoteric or intangible motivations for those actions. With any other character type, we would be critically flailed for not exploring their motivations. What I find especially interesting is when those motivations for religious people are tied to both emotional needs and intellectual conclusions based on reason, but not all religious perspectives value reason to the same degree...
Your comments beg a question, though. I wonder what religious people can do to help change this focus? Unfortunately, most contemporary religious fiction has been...less than stellar... so I wonder if encouraging more religious people to write and write well would help? Any other ideas?
