Religions in Space!

[neotoma]

Apropos of conversations with friends this week, which SF novels deal with modern human religions in future/space-faring settings? I'm mean seriously deal with religions, as in they are integral to the setting and at least some characters motiviations and identity.

The example that comes to my mind is Sarah Zettel's Fool's War, where one of the main characters is identity as a Muslim is as important as her identity as a merchant spaceship captain.

Rec me others?

Edited for clarity: I'm interested in stories dealing modern day religions in current or lightly extrapolated forms, and really want recs for non-mainstream-Protestant religions and characters. Stories about Orthodox Christians IN SPACE, Mormons IN SPACE, Wiccans IN SPACE, Sikhs IN SPACE, Buddhists IN SPACE, etc etc.

Comments

[executrix]

Doria Russell's The Sparrow and Children of God (mostly Catholicism).

I've been really enjoying Jo Walton's blog on Tor.com, and I know she has at least one post on religion in SF.

[neotoma]

I've heard a bit about Russell's books -- they also deal with first contact and the disasters thereof, right?

[ellen_fremedon]

I own them both if you want to borrow them. They're-- well, the parts that were deeply unsatisfying when I read them are still deeply unsatisfying. The parts that were mysteriously tremendously compelling are much less compelling, and not the slightest bit mysterious, since I discovered fanfic.

But, yes, they are about first contact where everyone on all sides has the best of intentions and everything still goes horribly-- which I would find a stronger argument if it didn't rely on everyone on both sides having to pass the idiot ball constantly-- but the aliens are fascinating and the human characters are wonderful.

And they feature a beautiful and brilliant priest being mutilated and raped and angsting a lot about it, if you like that sort of thing.

[neotoma]

Hmm... a story featuring a lot of idiot balls? That may or may not work given the example of actual history.

I could certainly take a look at the book -- angsting sometimes works for me, and sometimes I want to drown the characters to put them out of my misery...

[executrix]

A REALLLY disastery disaster. I can't put my hands on my copy of The Sparrow but you can have my copy of Children of God absolutely free by e-mailing your wallet name (which I used to know but have forgotten) and snail addy to dshilling@verizon.net. Most people like CoG a lot less than The Sparrow, and I'm one of them, explaining why it's on offer.

[bethbethbeth]

Mary Doria Russell's book The Sparrow is the first one that comes to my mind.

Oh, and in a non space book, Marge Piercy's riff on Frankenstein: the novel He, She, and It.

[neotoma]

Oh, I hadn't heard about Piercy's book. I'll look for it at the library.

[lilacsigil]

Piercy's book is called "Body of Glass" in some editions, and it's an excellent book about Judaism in the future dealing with artificial life.

[twistedchick]

James Blish, A Case of Conscience -- a Jesuit confronts aliens that don't conform to known theology/philosophy.

Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz -- religion and everything else after the end of the world

Frank Herbert, Dune -- based loosely on the life of Muhammad

CJ Cherryh, The Faded Sun Trilogy, Kesrith, Shon'jir, Kutath -- also based on Islam

[rakasha]

Might want to try the Safehold series by David Weber, or the Coldfire Trilogy by C. S. Friedman.

They both deal rather heavily with adaptations of the Christian religion in futuristic space colony settings - actually, come to think of it, religion in both of these series has been carefully, deliberately modified to foster specific modes of behavior in the population.

[neotoma]

I have read The Coldfire Trilogy. It wasn't quite my thing, though -- maybe because the fae were more fantastical than scientific? I usually like science fantasy, but I much preferred Friedman's The Madness Season, though that doesn't really have religion in it.

[rakasha]

...Oddly enough, it was completely the other way around for me. I found the Madness Season - overly technical and dry, and yes, while the Fae are rather fantastical, I simply like the *characters* in the Coldfire series much more then I do the actual setting.

[neotoma]

I rather liked how the alien biologies in The Madness Season worked -- but I like worldbuilding and decent biological extrapolation. Also, vampires IN SPACE! -- what's not to like there? ;)

[rakasha]

Backatcha. Evil undead necromantic sorceror forced to work with a Paladin of all that's good and righteous, each trying their hardest to corrupt the other - I really loved the snark! What's not to like?

...shall we agree to disagree and just call it a difference of tastes?

(plus, am currently writing a Coldfire fanfic, so I freely admit that I'm biased!)

[molly_o]

This is probably a stretch, but Karen Traviss' City of Pearl features a fundamentalist colony IN SPACE. The colony functions as an antagonist to the main character, so it's not from the colonists' POV, and the religious aspect might not be explored as thoroughly as you would prefer.

[molly_o]

Elizabeth Moon's Paladin series also engages heavily with Christianity, but I don't think it's at all what you have in mind -- it's really more about how even well-meaning apostles almost can't help but distort a savior's message, and it's aimed pretty transparently at Paul (the guy who writes it all down wrong is named *Luap*).

[neotoma]

It sounds like it might be worth taking a look at, though.

[writestuff]

Neal Stephenson's Anathem, in an odd way. The religion is science, but it's practiced like stripped-down medieval monasticism.

Sherri Tepper also does a mean job of writing about religion in both Grass and After Long Silence.

There's also Sharon Shinn's books.

[writestuff]

Oh, and HOW could I forget Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land?

[neotoma]

I had considered Sharon Shinn's books, but the problem there is that the books don't get into the practice or theology as it effects the characters in much depth, and that there is an interventionist diety/spaceship AI.

Also, I kind of wanted to see a couple who had their Kisses match them, but who actually didn't like each other even if they genetically compatible, or to see someone who actually preferred the spouse they'd found on their own to their Kiss-matched 'perfect mate'... mainly because I'm contrary like that.

[annalee]

The Dazzle of Day, by Molly Gloss.

It is, hands-down, my favorite book (fiction or non) about Quakers. And they're IN SPACE.

The story is about a generation ship full of Quakers. Gloss introduces the reader to Quakerism the way that science fiction readers are used to being introduced to alien cultures--she drops the reader right in the middle of them, and the characters pull the reader along, showing as they go how Quakers handle their business (the entire ship is run on Quaker business practice).

Also, the language is just gorgeous. It's a beautiful book.

[neotoma]

I think I've heard about this book before, but I didn't remember the title. I will definitely look for it -- Quaker IN SPACE sounds exactly like what I'm looking for right now.

[ciaan]

Joan Slonczewski also writes Quakers IN SPACE.

[neotoma]

Any particular title you suggest I start with?

[melannen]

If you want old-fashioned space opera with religious elements, Christopher Stasheff's Warlock books (and especially the prequels, like Escape Velocity and St. Vidicon to the Rescue) deal with Catholicism a lot.

And the Humanx Commonwealth books by Alan Dean Foster have a United Church, extrapolated as what might happen to the more adaptable schools of human religion if confronted with a friendly alien species which also had adaptable schools of religion. It's a major presence, not so much as a faith but as a powerful institution, sort of what would happen if the Unitarian Universalists became a major world/galactic power and the dominant religion; several important minor characters are clerics.

I wish I could come up with more but I've looked before and it's relatively hard to find any, especially non-Christian.