If the villains have proper motives (i.e. not ‘and then you will all tremble before my power!’), limits, even redeeming features, they become more believable which I think makes them more frightening, and certainly more interesting.

And you’re so right about Sandi Toksvig. She’s hilarious.

I practice mindfulness meditation, a Buddhist method. The core Buddhist teachings turn out to not contain theology, rather a practical psychology. I don’t know about God(s), Heaven and the like. I do know that meditation can be a good stress relief technique.

It can be amusing to tell missionaries that I’m a Buddhist and talk a tiny bitsabout the Four Nobel Truths, and how, isn’t it interesting how much calmness can be attained to simply paying attention to the present moment. After a couple minutes of this, I’ll offer my hand to shake, say, “Bless you,” and go on about my business. Haven’t met a missionary yet who knows how to handle this or who continues to pester me.

Nether can I conceive of such a deity, yet I believe in God.

There are authors and publishers, even poets, who teach and print that haiku are a sequence of five, seven and five syllables. This has never been true of haiku.

It has been taught in schools that there was a time when people as a whole believed the world was flat. If you went to far you would fall off its edge. Outside of seamen tales and political propaganda this notion is far from fact.

It seems to me that most folks perceptions of God are based in ignorance. Understandably though. They were most likely taught by someone who seemed to be an authority on the subject so they believe wholeheartedly, much like the above examples.

You hit on a great point that most people are a product of their environment. “I believe this to be true because it is taught, practiced, and portrayed before me.” It is easier to accept the world we are handed than to go look at it for ourselves.

One thing I’ve discovered upon looking at the world and pondering it for a while is that God and religion have little to do with one another. Some of that idea come from the theological texts of our civilization. I try to look at this world through different eyes. To see what is between the lines. Perhaps the same way an author might look at the streets of London and be inspired by the magic of it.

I tend to tell people I am a secular humanist in face to face discussions and if I have the time run through general principles that I adhere to. Or if their eyes glaze over “just think of me as a liberal Christian without the belief in god or Jesus”.

One thing with becoming an atheist later in life as coming to terms with feeling okay with uncertainty or not knowing some things.

The short story “I Remember The Future” by Michael A. Burstein, recently included in the collection The Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, is what I think of when I look at authors as hypothetical creator gods/goddesses. The story is a wonderful read if you get a chance and the author dedicated it to Arthur C. Clarke. Another story “The Sighted Watchmaker” by Vylar Kaftan, available on http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com , gives us a story told from the perspective of a “creation” who discovers one of the “gods” that created him….ironically…just as it has begun the process of creating its own “creations”…a unique point of view to tell a tale from.

On that note…and I have to say this just because I represent a certain group of people…I applaud your portrayal of shaman and shamanism in the Swift series…also has encouraged me to seek out other urban shamans, though we are a reclusive lot it seems.

Religion is a little bonzo to begin with but hey…we all need to believe in crazy stuff to get through the day…love is so hard to find nowadays…and we are all ever so lonely.

(where, where?)

I was a Jehovah’s Witness born 3rd generation and I knocked on doors with the Watchtower gospel for 33 years,was in the cult and now I’m out.
Their core dogma is that Jesus ‘returned’ aka had his second coming October 1914.
–Danny Haszard

For example – it might be a little funny to watch you blackmail a child, but it’s not half as funny as watching a child blackmail you…..

I dislike the use of the word militant when the grouping its applied to isn’t, you know actually militant. I’ll agree there are strident, forthright people with any number of ideologies/ opinions and then there are some classic a**holes that we all wish would just shut up while the rest of us work around our differences.

I have never met a militant atheist (which isn’t to say they may not exist) and see that word applied to atheists in attempt to shape debate, to render their objections irrelevant, the same can be observed in the labelling of feminists as militant.

@Lynna,

“If more atheists took your approach, I would probably get into fewer arguments with them.”

A lot of atheists don’t say anything (depending on their location). Despite being quite openly Atheist online. I don’t mention the fact to my employers as the area I live in is conservative Christian with a strong strain of evangelical.

As an atheist my only two forthright positions are the maintenance of a secular state(which most reasonable religious people heartily agree with), for religious business,including charities to be fully accountable and treated like all others .

Many many humans will do something good merely for the reward of a smile on someones face.

Many many humans will do something good for some promise of some kind of reward in general, rather than from fear of punishment.

Many many humans will do something good merely because it allows them to lie to themselves about being a good person.

Humans are neutral creatures, whose only inclination to be good is the lingering fear of punishment. Without threat of imprisonment, I would indulge in some of my darker urges. And you will find many who would gladly fight for evil. Darkness has no recruitment problems. Darkness is more fun. Blackmailing a child is a little funny, I’d do it just to amuse myself. The world is grey with specks of black and white. Pick a colour and decide how much fun you can have.

P.S. Grey has the most fun.

As an example of what happens to the oldest/most cliched of plots/storylines when a bit of extended logic is applied – this sentence is a brilliant summary, Kate!

I fully understand and agree with what you’re saying – a good old battle between light and dark can be brilliant when done well – but is often lazy. If the author includes the grey areas – the ambiguity that is much more realistic, the story and the reading experience is often all the richer for it.

One good example is Celia Friedman’s Coldfire Trilogy – good and bad becomes blurred for the characters, as well as the audience.

“Realistic” fantasy does seem to be becoming more common, which is exciting!

For complete non-difference between Light and Dark the main suspect is Joe Abercrombie’s “First Law trilogy”. If only because both sides appear to be as big a pack of b*****ds as each other. Not so much Light and Dark, as Dark and A-Bit-Darker-Than-That and I wouldn’t like to say which side was which…..

Richard Morgan’s “Land fit for Heroes” series is heading along those lines, also.

There seems to be a move in fantasy for factions more like the real world but with shorter tempers and swords. I can’t say that’s a bad thing but then I am a bit of a cynic!

All, in my opinion, your mileage may vary etc

I have no problem with atheism as such – as you can probably tell from the above, I’m not an atheist myself, but I consider the answer to questions like “Is there a God/goddess/assortment of gods/spirits/etc.?” to be fundamentally unknowable, and thus completely respect the right of anyone to believe or disbelieve whatever they want in that regard.

What I do have problems with is the approach to atheism taken by some individuals – as you say, “Put the word ‘militant’ in front of anything, and you’ve got a problem.” Arguing with the militant variety of atheist is a lot like arguing with the fundamentalist variety of Christian (or of any other faith, for that matter). Both are firmly convinced that they have the one true answer to a question that really can’t be answered in any decisive way, and that everyone but them is wrong, deluded, etc. That is not a mindset that makes for playing well with others.

It’s funny – looking at some of what I just wrote, if I were someone else reading this, I’d probably assume the writer was an agnostic, but I’m really not, or at least don’t think of myself as such. I’m actually quite an active member of my faith (Wicca). I interact with gods on a near-daily basis, but whether I believe in them depends on your definition of “belief”. Believe that they absolutely exist, and that anyone who disagrees is wrong? No, I don’t. Consider the existence of gods to be reasonably plausible and as good a way as any of explaining various spiritual experiences I’ve and and continue to have on a fairly frequent basis? Yes, I do.

I’m always conscious that there’s some chance that this all a huge trick my mind is playing on itself, that perhaps it’s really all psychological, and everything I think I interact with in ritual and prayer exists only in my head. But really, even if it is all some mind game I’m unknowingly playing with myself, it’s one that I enjoy, and that seems to improve my life in a variety of ways, so I’m quite content to keep on playing it. And since I’m not likely ever to know for sure one way or the other, I might as well keep on with the way that feels right for me, while accepting that it’s not necessarily the way that’s right for everyone else.

I had friends who claimed that atheism was the most hateful religion. I was a bit shocked by this claim and argued against it. I think the best I did was convince them that it is a religious position, not an actual religion. Though the strength went out of their argument when I bought up a few historical atrocities, and pointed out that from the atheist point of view they were committed for the flimsiest of reasons.
I think the issue was that both these friends are theists (though very open-minded, mostly un-organised ones – which was why their strength of feeling shocked me), and they had encountered atheists who were determined to view anyone with any kind spiritual belief -no matter how vague or amenable- as credulous morons. Not only that but these people had expressed this view to my easy-going, open-minded friends in such a way that their arrogance had made my friends so set against atheists.

I think any kind of view about religion can engender strong feelings and in some respects it’s no wonder that certain people have become rather embattled in their views. However when I hear the things some hardline atheists say I have the same reaction as I do towards religious zealots. It’s great to hear from atheists who have more open, understanding viewpoints.

So the plot is, ” Letting In The Jungle ” as in the Rudyard Kipling short story from the ” Jungle Book ” sequence ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letting_in_the_Jungle

I am very far from being anti technology but I just can’t read fiction on a screen; leastways not on any screen presently available, and any screen in future that would satisfy my expectations would be so similar to a Real Paper hardback book that it would actually have to be a hardback book with extras.