Ursula LeGuin published a book in 2000 called The Telling and in this book we have a main character, Sutty, who is from the planet Earth; which is called Terra and is in shambles, even though the planet that Sutty is sent to, Aka, seems to think that Terra is a model society which they should model themselves after. Sutty is an Observer, specializing in linguistics, and her mission to Aka is the first assignment since graduating. While Sutty thinks that she is doing a terrible job on Aka, her supervisor, Tong, has given her a special assignment because of her background from Terra. Terra was under the control of the Unists, a dictatorial religious movement that destroys anything that goes against their Lord. However, on Aka, society was the exact opposite and any sort of “religious” practice that we would think of was outlawed.
And it is this idea of religion that makes up a huge undertone of The Telling, in addition to being the most interesting
part of the book. What LeGuin has given us are what seems to be completely different societies; Terra and the Hosts of the Lord dictatorship abolishing anything that they think might harm their position of power contrasted with Aka’s idea that “Pure Science” is the only true religion and the Corporate State jailing and “re-educating” anyone found guilty of “reactionary teachings”. What I like most about what LeGuin has written is that she doesn’t take sides as to which of these viewpoints she thinks is the correct one; she actually does just the opposite. LeGuin writes in such a way as to show the utter ridiculousness of both sides of this argument and to preach toleration in religion, regardless of which side of the argument you fall on. (Preach isn’t the right word, but it’s the first word that comes to mind) I think that is what the world needs; a little tolerance goes a long way in the grand scheme of things.
Fun with Science Fiction 