SRD's Religion

[Worm of Despite]

Just wondering.

[DarkReflection]

This may be REALLY presumptuous so I'll start this with saying I don't know. But from what I see and have read he probably dosen't have a defined religion so to speak. I think he may just have some principles he lives by. That's JMO. But I think it's a pretty common thing. I'm the same way, I see really great values and morals, in Buddhism, Christianity, Islamic religions. But I don't really classify myself. I just look at the world and the situations it provides me with and deal with them in the most fair or right way that I see.

[amanibhavam]

I think it's pretty private... and does not mean much, whatever religion he follows.

[Worm of Despite]

Just wanna know. I mean, in an interview they asked Tolkien himself if he was an atheist, which he replied very quickly to with a "devout Roman Catholic". I'm sure SRD's not one, heh! But, eh, it's just good to know. Not like I'm asking whom he'll vote for come 2004! Then again, maybe I’m just a rude monkey (pun intended).

[Iryssa]

His father was a Christian, I think ("I think"="don't quote me on this"), so I would assume that he is influenced a to some extent by this (as we all are by our parent's beliefs, consciously or not)...some people I've talked to are quite convinced that he is a Christian....but again, don't quote me on any of this, it's purely speculation.

[Variol Farseer]

His parents were Protestant missionaries — Presbyterian I think, but I may not have the exact denomination right. He has sounded off largely about his inability to accept his parents' theology. At Elohimfest, when asked a question that required him to assume there was a God, he called that a highly questionable assumption.

Myself, I tentatively put SRD in the class anima naturaliter Christiana. He has absorbed a great deal of the Christian ethic, and a lot of the (unconscious?) assumptions of the Christian world-view, but for some combination of emotional and intellectual reasons, doggedly resists identifying either with Christian theology or with any church (even 'The Church' in the abstract, meaning the collective of all Christian believers). Lester del Rey described his work as 'crypto-Christian', and that may be as good a description as we're going to get. I don't see SRD himself giving any meaningful answer to such a question; like Heinlein, he'll either tap-dance round the issue or say, quite simply, NOYB.

[CovenantJr]

I'd be inclined to agree with Dark Reflection.

[Stead]

I think most writers are their own religion.
Or they write to figure out what their religion is, because they know it's not like any oyher person's.

[Believer]

It's alternately frustrating and amusing for me to read Donaldson's comments about fundamentalist religion... Being fairly close in some ways to fundamentalism myself, at least in the strict sense of the word, I suspect some of my beliefs are things SRD would hold in contempt, though I try to approach everything in a thoughtful way. I think crypto-christian is a good way to describe his work; even though he uses fantasy and sf as his genres, he explores the same issues of humanity, darkness, and light as Christianity does, IMO.

[Fist and Faith]

At Elohimfest, when caam was giving him the Actors Studio treatment, she asked what his least favorite word is. After saying something to the effect that an author having a least favorite word is blasphemy, he half-jokingly said church.

At another point, I don't remember what the question was, he said, "Because God needs me a lot more than I need him!" His facial expression and body language told us that he was going for a laugh, and he got a big one. But still, these comments must say something or other.

[Seareach]

At another point, I don't remember what the question was, he said, "Because God needs me a lot more than I need him!"

Thanks Fist and Faith! I have listened over and over again to the recording of SRD's Elohimfest Q&A session. I could never work out what exactly he had said in response to that God question. Now I feel quite enlightened!

[The Dark Overlord]

His parents were fundamentalist Baptists- or better yet fundamentalist Baptist missionaries(in India). Usually when you reject that sort of background you are left very negative towards it(because of guilt feelings for rejecting it) because unlike other demoninations- like Catholic- it demands all or nothing AND involvement which actually makes sense because you are talking about God here- and since they more than anybody have arguements for their side-arguements for the Bible and they follow the Bible closest of anyone by far- most(not all) other denominations I have seen play fast and loose with the Bible- and they have all sorts of arguements for the Bible to begin with and scientsits and everything that argue against evolution and an old earth/universe and most recently(and most frighteningly) there are a growing number of defectors and a cadre of scientists who were convinced athiests who FROM THE SCIENTIFIC EVDIDENCE ALONE NO LONGER BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION OR AN OLD EARTH/UNIVERSE. They did not become nor were they ever fundamentalists or any kind of Christian(nor are they now). They don't beleive in the Bible any more that when they were athiests but they definitelty believe that some kind of God is out there. Among these people are Michael Denton-"Evolution, Theory In Crisis" ; Michael Behe-"Darwins Black Box" and another book called 'Icons of Evolution" (can't remember the author) among others. Of course the fundamentalists jump on this as well as refering to there own work. So a person can feel pretty convicted and condemned for walking away from all of this when there is so much "evidence" that it is right. It is tantamount to to ignoring what is right(or even just plain factually true) in order to believe and do what you want. If, in the back of your mind, you feel you are ignoring reality, the facts of existence, and right and wrong to do and beleive what you feel like doing and believing regardless if you are right or not- those facts that are/might be true are going to irk you.