Fiction into religion: imagination, other worlds, and play in the formation of community

Abstract

Research into religions founded upon explicitly fictional sources is a recent development in the study of religion. Such research is social scientific in orientation and emphasises: the persuasive power of shared narratives among subcultural groups; the ‘cognitive’ methodological turn that has gained ground since the 1980s regarding the origin and function of religion; and the individualistic and affective ways that elements from traditional religion, popular culture, and a wide range of social artefacts and phenomena are used to create new religions and personal spiritualities. In certain cases, exposure to, prolonged immersion in, and social vindication of highly affective narratives (science-fiction novels and films that are sensuous and have tangible impact in experiential terms) may trigger the formation of a religion. This article examines the Church of All Worlds, which is a fiction-inspired religion founded by Tim Zell (b. 1942) and Lance Christie (1944–2010), two students at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, in April 1962. Zell and Christie read Robert A. Heinlein’s science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land (London: New English Library, 1961 [1987]), and initiated a ‘real world’ version of the fictional Church, founded by Martian-raised Valentine Michael Smith in the novel. Identification with Stranger’s characters, and lifestyle choices designed to recreate the social milieu of the novel, reinforced and made ‘real’ this initially fiction-based religion, which is now over 50 years old, has a vibrant print and online presence, and braches (called Nests) in countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, and Australia.