Entropy Gate

God and Science Fiction part one

Katy asked why I didn’t include Star Trek in my top 10 items that inspired me with my book…I was already planning on giving a detailed post as to why Star Wars and not Star Trek, but her question has caused me to post now instead of this weekend as intended.

First and foremost let me state that I like Star Trek a LOT! With the exception of the latest I have seen every Star Trek movie in the theater with my father. My job got crazy and by the time things mellowed out it was gone…I have high hopes that it will return to one of the dollar cinemas or the Cinema Grill (more on those two places later).

At the heart of the four Entropy Gate books is religion. Not just my own (Christianity) but many religions. In my stories, there are true followers of Christ’s teachings and there are those who distort the teachings. There are atheists and there are fanatics (just wait until book two for some wild ones) that are sprinkled throughout. In fact, one of my favorite characters in the story is David Franke…he just happens to be an atheist. So yeah, I wanted religion to be a strong component in the book…

Which leads me to Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune, etc…In Star Wars, there is a god-like-oversoul-powerthinging-that “surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together,” to quote Yoda. And it gets people thinking about good and evil, religion and God. That’s cool! In Dune we see radical fanaticism surrounding the prophecy of a messiah who would lead the Fremen on their Jihad. And boy do things get wacky there…worm worship, Spice parties, death, destruction, religious hysteria, you name it! But in Star Trek we have…what? Man has accomplished so much on his own and is (to quote Patrick Stewart’s Captain quoting Shakespeare) “how like a god!” Trek is all about man’s accomplishments on his own. The only time we see religion is when it is used to control a group or race of naïve people. Star Trek rocks, but there isn’t a spiritual side to it that inspired me like Dune and Star Wars did.