I can never predict what I will find to post about when I read a page of a text by Poul Anderson. Why Mormons?
"'They're Mormons, if that rings a bell in you. The Avantists are particularly hard on their church. The claim is that its premises are antiscientific, but the truth is that its congregations object loudly to the molding of posthuman man.'" (p. 154)
"I hope my Mormon friends won't mind my saying that their church, like our country, has a grand science fiction flavor about it. That ecclesiastical division into stakes and wards is pure Heinlein, isn't it?"
-Poul Anderson, "The Discovery of the Past" IN Anderson, Past Times 182-206 AT p. 199.
Mormons are one of the many religious communities that survive in SM Stirling's Emberverse.
One of our sf writers is a Mormon.
Some people dismiss all religious street propagandists as much the same. In fact, Evangelicals, Mormons, Witnesses and Christadelphians differ considerably. I find Mormons willing to listen. They have been sent out into the world to propagate their beliefs and, in the process, they encounter alternative ideas for the first time. One asked me what was the purpose of life and seemed astonished and interested when I replied that life has no purpose; it evolved. Several Mormons have advised me to find the truth about religious matters by asking God the Father in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, so I have done this.
Incidentally, Christadelphians originated in Birmingham, England, where there is now a Buddhist Center and a Central Mosque. There are both Christian and Muslim street preachers and propagandists. Although I have visited the Buddhist Center, it is convenient to meditate in a church in the city center.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
So many new blog pieces already? You must be over your cold! (Smiles)
Mormon objections to the "molding" of "posthuman man" seems more like a variant of the age old objection of Christians (or alleged Christians) to the state meddling with them.
I'm not sure why Poul Anderson thought the Mormon ecclesiastical divisions of stakes and wards seem so Heinleinian. The Mormons, as a church was founded in the 1830's, BEFORE Heinlein. Meaning their organizations had taken form before RAH was born.
Orson Scott Card is the Mormon SF writer I know of. At one time I was interested in his books, but eventually became dissatisfied, mostly because I thought his "Alvin Maker" books too sentimental for my taste. I did, and do, like his WYRMS.
Most of what I know about the Mormons came from reading Isaiah Bennett's INSIDE MORMONISM. The author was a Catholic who converted to Mormonism, became increasingly dissatisfied the more he studied it, and eventually returned to the Church. The book is a massive, theologically oriented discussion of the LDS. And Bennett was always courteous in how he spoke about the Mormons, btw.
And I do believe there is more to the universe than mere blind chance and random evolution!
Sean
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