Yesterday for Easter, hearing some of the story again, I had a thought. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus tells his disciples all sorts of things. Foretelling events, items of faith, things like that. And throughout, every time, they doubt him. Such that, on Easter morning, confronted with angels and an empty tomb, there’s still doubt.
My Easter observation was that skepticism, that doubt. That questioning every statement, every claim. Yet still having faith enough to follow. And I thought about how media portrays cults, and secluded communities, and things like that. And I thought about political leaders and parties and their followers.
I imagine you know how those thoughts went. We always seem to be seeing the blind followers. The completely indoctrinated. No questions, all faith.
And it’s just interesting to me… In one of the major world stories of a group like this, it’s full of skepticism and doubt. Yet, we expect that in this sort of situation in life today, the followers would follow blindly. And that anyone who doesn’t is either the right-hand-man… or is going to be on the out-and-out soon. Maybe they’re even the main character in a story, turning away from that life.
Do we see stories – real or fictional – like that of Jesus and his disciples? Can you think of any? Let me know in the comments below!
Comparative Geeks 
Interesting thoughts there. I may have to ponder it some more, but you are right; like everything in media, we only see the one extreme to the other in any groups, including religious ones.
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But it’s interesting still that the extremes seem to be this mindless fanatical group, extremists I suppose being the word. But has it always been so?
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Faith is an interesting topic to explore when it comes to fiction; especially scifi and fantasy.
A few examples off the top of my head, without diving into analyses:
– In Harry Potter, Harry and his friends often trust that Dumbledore knows what he’s doing and give him their loyalty, sometimes blindly.
– In the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the good creatures of Narnia and then the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve all put their faith in Aslan, despite not knowing his plans. The children put their fear aside after being told that he’s not “safe” but that he’s “good.”
– LOTR: Frodo’s faith in the Fellowship and the mission to the destroy the ring, despite all the hardships that he endures, and Sam’s unerring faith in Frodo. On a higher level, Gandalf is the only one of the maiar (wizards in this case) sent to Middle Earth who remains faithful to the Valar and their mission.
– A Wrinkle in Time: Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin ultimately keep their faith in the 3 angels that sent them to save Mr. Murray, despite at doubting them at several points and wondering if they had been misled or betrayed.
– In Asimov’s Foundation series, many characters but their faith in the Seldon Plan. Sometimes this is a blind, passive faith, and sometimes they use this faith to bolster whatever plan of action they may be attempting to enact at the time.
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Nice examples! Two of them at least were Christian thinkers (and friends) so their stories make the most sense for comparisons (Lewis and Tolkien).
There are definite and literal moments of the kids showing faith in Dumbledore! We watched Chamber of Secrets again recently and I’m reminded of the whole help-will-always-be-given faith Harry shows – faith rewarded with all the tools he needed for victory. But still, he did have the faith first! They only really come to question Dumbledore in the last book.
I also love the Foundation reference. Could maybe add Dune in there… Faith that the visions of the future are accurate, that the prophet got it right. Everything falls apart midway through the Foundation trilogy… Ah, the unexpected! We also see different types and levels of faith through the centuries in Foundation, which is fun to explore.
And it’s been too long since I read A Wrinkle in Time… Clearly needs a re-read!
One other I was thinking of was like in Star Trek, with the loyalty but not blind unquestioning faith that the crew shows the captain. But then, I suppose you see that in a lot of military hierarchy situations so perhaps not the best example.
If you’re interested in the intersection of religion and Sci Fi and fantasy, we have a whole category exploring it 🙂 There’s often a lot of religion in Fantasy, but rarely any in Sci Fi. If there is any in Sci Fi, there’s usually no aliens…
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Indeed – it can be difficult to find faith and religon in scifi. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Speaker for the Dead and a Mote in God’s Eye, but I seem to recall both exploring religious themes (which isn’t surprising in Card’s case).
I also didn’t remember a Wrinkle in Time very well and was gifted a nicely-bound copy of the trilogy last Christmas, which I’m just plowing through now. Madeleine L’Engle also seems to have been a pretty strong Christian, thus the religious themes in her stories.
I’ll have to check out your other posts on the topic!
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I’ve been meaning to drop this link… the category started with this post: https://comparativegeeks.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/science-fiction-and-religion-a-case-of-conscience/ It’s kind of a perfect book to start this sort of ongoing musing.
For some of my big posts, I also liked The Ancient Alien Race (and often refer back to it): https://comparativegeeks.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/science-fiction-and-religion-and-the-ancient-alien-race/
The Best of All Possible Worlds: https://comparativegeeks.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/the-best-of-all-possible-worlds-part-2/
And the One True Timeline:
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