{"id":1457,"date":"2011-08-20T23:18:04","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T03:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=1438"},"modified":"2011-08-20T23:18:04","modified_gmt":"2011-08-21T03:18:04","slug":"reasons-to-buy-religion-and-science-fiction-you-want-to-believe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/08\/reasons-to-buy-religion-and-science-fiction-you-want-to-believe.html","title":{"rendered":"Reasons to Buy Religion and Science Fiction: You Want To Believe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Fox Mulder changes what he wants to believe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fox Mulder on the X-Files had a poster of a UFO in his office, with the words \u201cI Want To Believe.\u201d The poster became famous. But why is it such a popular image? And what is the relationship between that sort of belief and religious belief?<\/p>\n

Many staple fringe ideas of our time \u2013 some of which are regularly featured in science fiction, such as belief in alien abductions and crashed flying saucers at Roswell \u2013 \u00a0have many parallels and similarities to religious beliefs. More than the content, the shape<\/em> of such beliefs and the will required to believe them has similarities that are worth exploring. Noticing how gods and cosmologies supplant one another, but our attitude to them persists across time, can tell us something important about how we as human beings make sense of our existence and our place in the universe.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s something that you will want to believe: Religion and Science Fiction<\/em> will continue to be available at a significant discount until the end of this month. If you want to order the book at 40% off, then click through to see the coupon code I shared earlier this month.<\/a><\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the blogosphere on the topic of religion and science fiction, The Lead linked<\/a> to a piece by Julie Clawson on how sci-fi has picked up the prophetic role once associated with religion<\/a>. And IO9 shared some recasting of comic book covers in stained glass, some of which are presumably at least slightly blasphemous<\/a>. But the book Religion and Science Fiction<\/em><\/a> has a whole chapter dedicated to comic books and some of the deities that inhabit those graphic universes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fox Mulder on the X-Files had a poster of a UFO in his office, with the words \u201cI Want To Believe.\u201d The poster became famous. But why is it such a popular image? And what is the relationship between that sort of belief and religious belief? 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