Crutch of Religion (WisCon 31 panel)

219 The Crutch of Religion in Moral Behavior

Politics, Race, Class, and Religion•629• Monday, 10:00-11:15 a.m.

One of the many points of contention between "the faithful" and "the rest of us" is how to tell whether we are living a moral life. For many of "the faithful," this means living in accordance with the precepts of their religion—while to "the rest of us" the externalization of authority seems like an abdication of moral responsibility. For many of "the rest of us," the nearest thing to a moral compass would be some kind of individual test such as "if it feels good, do it" or "to have and to offer no guilt, no shame, and no regrets" or "the golden rule"—while such moral relativism seems like an abdication of religious responsibility to "the faithful." This panel will focus on the "moral compass" of SF characters who grapple with these questions, such as Lauren Oya Olamina of (the late) Octavia E. Butler's Parables books and Father Sandoz of Mary Doria Russell's Sparrow series. We will also consider SF characters who are seemingly oblivious to the issue such as the heroine of Suzy McKee Charnas' Holdfast series and the protagonist of Ken MacLeod's Cosmonaut Keep series.

M: lucy ann synk, Ian K. Hagemann, Isabel Schechter

Reports, notes, etc.

• issahla