Science and Religion
Matt, a physics graduate student, establishes himself as an atheist very early on in the novel, through sarcastic references to God and by referring to himself as an “Ex-Reform Jew atheist (95),” and an “atheist non-practicing Jew”. The strongest representation of this theme takes place in the theocratic society Matt visits on his fourth jaunt through time. It is in this time period that Matt meets Martha, a graduate assistant, at a future MIT where the "T" stands for Theosophy rather than Technology.
When Matt first encounters Martha, she devoutly believes in God, though as she and Matt travel through time, she becomes less and less sure of her beliefs, saying, when introduced to sex, “I’m not sure I anymore, either (233)". Near the end of his time in the theocratic time period, Matt meets a version of Jesus that only appears in holographic form. Later in the novel, a “holy land” is mentioned as being cordoned off by killer satellites called “Avenging Angels". This can be read as a criticism of the radical measures a repressive religious society will take to control its citizens and maintain its beliefs.
Read more about this topic: The Accidental Time Machine, Themes
Famous quotes containing the words science and, science and/or religion:
“Consider the China pride and stagnant self-complacency of mankind. This generation inclines a little to congratulate itself on being the last of an illustrious line; and in Boston and London and Paris and Rome, thinking of its long descent, it speaks of its progress in art and science and literature with satisfaction.... It is the good Adam contemplating his own virtue.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There are some things in science which should be brought to light. There are others, doctor, which should be left alone.”
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“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)