What's So Great About Ushas?

Paul B · 10 Jul 2008, 22:35 · from 2008-July.txt.gz

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From: pb.stuff at gmail.com (Paul B)
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:35:03 -0400
Subject: (urth) What's So Great About Ushas?
In-Reply-To: <BAY103-W52DA4859526327AB00763DD7910 at phx.gbl>
References: <BAY103-W52DA4859526327AB00763DD7910 at phx.gbl>
Message-ID: <3e1fa2e90807101535x3f482aabve3c6ad5e4c7f8d50 at mail.gmail.com>

I don't understand the difficulty in holding a race of aliens, even an
advanced race, to a moral standard.

On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 3:39 PM, b sharp <bsharporflat at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> I think there is a large gap in the broad exposition of your argument,
> that being that we don't need a science fiction story to find a legend of a
> God
> who has the power to stop all war, genocide, disease and child rape but
> chooses not
> to.  Extending your argument would seem to demand either that Gene Wolfe
> feels
> the Judeo-Christian God is morally bankrupt or that Gene Wolfe is an
> atheist (or both).
> I don't think either is true.

That, or perhaps more reasonably my argument would demand that the
Hierogrammates aren't God.  They aren't, being created by the Hieros
(posthumans).  The Problem of Evil, to which you're alluding to here,
doesn't apply to them in Wolfe's world so there's no problem.

> I think any intelligent, thinking Christian eventually is troubled by the
> classic problem
> of an omnicient, omnipotent God who allows evil to flourish. I suspect the
> Hierogrammates
> and their relationship with the Increate are an attempt by Gene Wolfe to
> reconcile the
> contradiction (while injecting a healthy dose of science to explain
> religion).
>
> -bsharp
>

I don't think the Hierogrammates have any different a relationship with God
than the Hiero humans do, as both are created - one by the other, no less,
according to Wolfe.  Who is this "Increate" person, anyway?

Wolfe can logically both worship a God and condemn a race of aliens playing
god.

Incidentally, the Problem of Evil has never had an answer besides "stop
asking stupid questions", which is less than satisfactory in my mind.
However, I'm not Wolfe.

Paul
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