zyta

Living in America has taught me many things, one of which is that though a lot of people tend to believe in Jesus (perhaps just for the sake of believing in him to get stuff and make life easier - a fake believer) there are many who claim to be part of a religion or church group when in reality they avoid such groups like the plague. Now I'm not entirely sure how it is around the world with religion, I can only assume that it is a similar situation as the U.S..

Now when you read a fantasy novel you will tend to notice that religion plays an important factor in most, if not all, fantasy/sci-fi novels when the Author him/herself does not believe in any such religion(s). Is there some underlining truth in everyone that tugs at them to make people believe in religion while writing novels, somewhere deep down?

My own Novel has religion playing a Key factor in the storyline with my main character being a demigod (half human and half god). Is it because with religion there are set moral values that are universal and when (a shocking plot twist) an incident happens with a believer of the church breaks one of the laws it is (inter-)national news?

This is not a discussion about Religion around the world and how other people see it, but a discussion about how human religion in the real world affects religion in a fictional world, such as a novel. If you want a discussion about religion in the real world, I suggest you go here:

Debate and Discuss - Anime Online

For everyone else, let's discuss.

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beast

Well certainly religious pessimism has influenced many works. A Brave New World eliminates religion in order to create a great society. In A Song Of Fire And Ice Trilogy religion is always portratyed negatively. Religion has such a history of being used to determine the power structure of society is set up. The mission protectiva in the Dune series is little more than a plan to ensure that teh Bene Gesseret can rise to prophet status should they need it. Occasionally you do see deification in sci fi. In the space marines series the ruler is thought to be a god are the atriedes heirs in Dune. Arthur in Excalibur is also deified, as a link with the spirits of nature. When he falters the crops do not yield and when he finally gets stronger the flowers bloom and their is prosperity again.