A friend of mine confronted me the other day regarding a
post I made about Religion and Science Fiction. He told me I failed to expand
it out, failed to think outside the box, and look at the advent of religion
beyond humanity.
Having given this some thought, I agree that he had a point.
Religion has divided humanity, has caused wars and atrocities all in the name
of a God or gods depending on what point in humanities short history we look
at.
What if a species of intelligent life ascended in our galaxy
to a Type II civilization on the Kardashev scale? Bear in mind humanity
currently is defined as a Type I civilization.
A Type II civilization on the Kardashev scale is defined as:
"A civilization capable of harnessing the energy
radiated by its own star (for example, the stage of successful construction of
a Dyson sphere), with energy consumption at ≈4×1033 erg/sec. Lemarchand stated
this as "A civilization capable of utilizing and channeling the entire
radiation output of its star. The energy utilization would then be comparable
to the luminosity of our Sun, about 4 × 1026 watts."
They would have the ability to travel across the great divide
in vast generation ships, visiting planets along the way. However, they, unlike
humanity believed in a single faith, a single deity, and a single religion.
Would they be like the Conquistadors, professional soldiers opening trade
routes for their civilization and also spreading the word of their faith to the
“primitives” they conquered?
It is truly an interesting idea to contemplate how humanity
would deal with and most likely resist the proselytizing of an extra-terrestrial
religion. Or would we? The New Age movement has spread with the idea of an
alternative way to look at the World and religion in general. Would we resist? Would
we convert? Or would we fight a war?
A wonderful story idea to ponder.
