From: ChuckKuecker (ckuecker@mcs.net)
Date: Tue Apr 21 1998 - 16:44:26 MDT
At 10:14 4/21/98 -0700, you wrote:
>I recently watched "Contact" (I'm probably the last to do so on this
>list) and something's been annoying me ever since. In the movie it is
>claimed that 95% of the worlds population believe in a "Supreme Being"
>and therefore anyone who doesn't believe in God shouldn't represent
>Earth. Now, forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't Hinduism the most
>'popular' religion? Even if it's not, my point is that many religions
>have more than one god, so I would presume that 95% of the worlds
>population don't believe in a "Supreme Being" or "God" (which I take
>to mean one Supreme Being, after all how many Supreme Beings can you
>have?) Added to this, it's a well know fact that religious groups
>don't exactly appreciate each other's views. Anyone advocating the
>Christian God isn't likely to go down well with other religions that
>make up the majority of that 95% (I'm certain 95% of the world aren't
>Christians, despite what some of them would like to think). So
>clearly a religiously neutral candidate would have been the best choice.
>
>Is it any different in the book? And does anyone have figures on the
>numbers that make up different religious beliefs, just in case I'm
>ever a candidate for first contact and find myself in need of a good
>defence?
>
>--Wax
Just remember that the character in the movie was a religious fundamentalist
type, and some of these people sincerely believe that the world literally
revolves around their particular vision of God...They tend to be very bad
with statistics, too.
The book was quite a bit different. There was a team of travelers, no
terrorists, no second machine, and the group was sequestered after their
return for fear of what they would tell the world. I guess since Carl Sagan
was dead, they had greater 'artistic license'...
Chuck Kuecker
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