Terangi Maclaren to the Arvelan, Voah:
"'Hiroyama tried to find out what your major religions are. Her book created a sensation. If a powerful, scientifically oriented culture can hold that God is love...with sex apparently the major part of love - well, that defies a lot of old-established Terrestrial orthodoxies.'" (p. 131)
Does it? My first thought on reading Maclaren's words was that surely the Protectorate regime pays lip service to "God is love" even though they would interpret it completely differently? Then I remembered that this is the Protectorate of The Enemy Stars, not the Protectorate of "The Bitter Bread." Sex being the major part of love is a different emphasis but that is because of Arvelan biology. We easily conceive of loveless sex and nonsexual love.
Arvelan monogamy is not a moral requirement but a biological imperative. However, partial knowledge of Arvelan beliefs has inspired promiscuous cults on Earth which is not what the Arvelans would have considered appropriate. In any case, exposure to alien influence will undermine the Protectorate. Earth needs a culture that embraces difference without division and unity without uniformity.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
You beat me to mentioning how the Protectorate of THE ENEMY STARS was different and far more secular than the Protectorate of "The Bitter Bread." A pity Anderson never wrote more stories set in the background of the latter story.
I am skeptical of the hopes you stated in the last paragraph. Humans being what they are we are always going to have divisions as well as differences. Divisions can only be managed or coped with, not eliminated.
Ad astra! Sean
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