Awhile ago, I hosted an interview with my friend and fellow author Rachel Newhouse. Since we both write Christian sci-fi, I asked her to write a guest post on that exact topic. Enjoy!

“‘Clean Christian Science Fiction’… isn’t that an oxymoron?”

Hey gang! My name is Rachel Newhouse. I’ve been friends with Grace for one day shy of forever. We have a lot in common, but the most humorous is how shockingly similar our debut novels are. We both released YA Christian sci-fi titles featuring a young female first-person narrator (and we released them within a year of each other). Of course, her series was a Star Trek-y space exploration saga, and mine was a near-future dystopian drama, but the similarities were too obvious to ignore. We became good friends and have been supporting each other’s writing journeys ever since, so it’s an honor to be invited back, 10+ years later, to feature on her blog again.

And it should be no surprise that I’m here to talk about the subgenre that started it all: Christian sci-fi.

When I sell my books at conventions and fairs, I have a giant banner for the back of my booth that says “Clean Christian Science Fiction” in big letters, and I tell you what, it’s the best marketing investment I ever made. I get a lot of people coming up to me because they’re looking for clean and/or Christian fiction, and I’ve made a lot of sales and friendships by being open about the family-friendly nature of my books.

On the flip side, however, I also get a lot of people who stop, pull a face, and ask, “Christian sci-fi—is that a thing?”

“Isn’t that an oxymoron?”

“Is this a joke?”

No, my friends, Christian sci-fi is not a joke—but unfortunately, it’s so uncommon that a lot of people aren’t even aware it exists.

When you consider what franchises are popular in sci-fi, you really can’t blame people for their confusion. Sci-fi, more than other genres, has a reputation for being godless, and it’s easy to see why. So many of the futuristic classics are founded on humanistic or atheistic themes. Sci-fi as a whole tends to be progressive (usually in all the wrong ways), and many of the tropes common to the genre appear to run contrary to core Christian beliefs. (Alien life being the most obvious example.) And let’s not get started on how dirty a lot of sci-fi is. There isn’t a whole lot of clean sci-fi, let alone overtly Christian sci-fi.

So, I understand it when people give me a funny look.

But if they stop and ask me, boy howdy, they better be prepared for a soap box speech. Because in my opinion, sci-fi should be saturated with Christian work, because it’s one of the best genres for showcasing the character of God.

Why? There’s a couple of reasons. First, let’s look at the subgenre of space exploration sci-fi (aka, Star Trek). Space exploration/colonization is just the dominion mandate in space—and we all know everything is better in space!

But let’s dig deeper. Let’s look at Star Trek again, specifically The Next Generation. In almost every episode, they encounter a new alien race. And what happens when you dump humans on a foreign planet and add some life-or-death crisis to the mix? You get a clash of cultures. Invariably, the humans and aliens end up disagreeing on how a situation should be handled. And when this happens, the screenwriters, whether they realize it or not, are using drama and theatrics to examine the nature of what it means to be human.

Sometimes the human values prove to be superior; sometimes, the humans are forced to question their own ethics. But no matter who “wins,” when we examine the nature of humanity, we’re examining the character of God. Everything that’s “good” about humanity comes from God: creativity, value for life, truth, love, loyalty, family, freedom. And when humanity falls short, chances are, it’s the alien race that’s reflecting the true nature of God.

Of course, Star Trek doesn’t always get it right, but there are so many episodes that inadvertently send extremely pro-Christian messages because they promote a value for life, a love of truth, etc. Imagine what a Christian writer, with a full awareness of the character and values of God, could do in this genre?

You don’t have to use aliens to accomplish this purpose, either. A dystopian society serves the same function. When you have a fictional culture that exaggerates a vice, the characters’ ultimate triumph will point to the core values that align humanity with the image of God.

This is why I think it’s such a shame that many Christians are unaware of—or completely avoid—the genre of sci-fi. The stage is ripe with tropes and settings that are ideally suited for amplifying what’s good and true about God. Space is the final frontier of His Creation—if only some more men and women would be bold enough to go and reclaim the territory for His glory.

Will you join me?

I couldn’t agree more! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this, Rachel. And readers, if you enjoy the Firmament series, you definitely need to check out Rachel’s excellent series, Red Rain.