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From: mat@hou4b.UUCP (Mark Terribile)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Yellow Press in SciFi?
Message-ID: <1253@hou4b.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 5-Jan-85 00:09:59 EST
Article-I.D.: hou4b.1253
Posted: Sat Jan  5 00:09:59 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Jan-85 07:40:58 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 25


As I was walking past a colleague's desk, I picked up a copy of Heinlein's
``Friday''.  The story takes place in the wreckage of earth future.  I flipped
though it, and came up against a paragraph which described how the Catholic
Church claimed that people who were the product of genetic engineering were
not human, did not have immortal souls, etc.

A couple of years ago, I flipped through another scifi book about the wreckage
of earth future, and the church was depicted as a medevial inquisition.  The
sacrament of Penance was turned into torture-confess-execute, and the
accusations included ``having sex with an unblessed [ie untaxed] prostitute''.

If I recall, H.G.Wells had a heavy anti-religion bias, but confined it mostly
to public debates with Chesterton and published essays.  I don't know for sure.

Are my observations typical of scifi writings?  If so, why?  Is perversion of
religion just a good way to depict a damaged society?  Or do these writers
consider religion a malady of society?  And is the Catholic Church singled out
the way that IBM is singled out when we think of computers -- ``They have an
IBM machine'', or do these writers have a grudge against Catholicism ?
-- 

	from Mole End			Mark Terribile
		(scrape .. dig )	hou4b!mat
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