Evangelicals in Politics and Greg Bear’s Darwin’s Radio and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash

The political aspect of science fiction is becoming increasingly evident in novels, particularly the clash of traditional beliefs versus new ideas. Two such novels that focus on this conflict are Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio and Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Bear explores the idea of punctuated evolution, introducing an inborn virus in humans, dubbed SHEVA, which transforms humans within one generation. As America is faced with the onslaught of mutated babies, the government is forced to act against them under the influence of the Christian conservative outcry. In Stephenson's novel, he introduces a sort of future in which everything, including religion is franchised. Religion is powerfully influential and commercialized, and the corruption becomes evident when the owner of the largest chain of churches begins to brainwash his followers with a drug called snow crash. Both authors create a strong connection between religion and politics, especially the increasing sway of beliefs upon government. Bear's government is driven steadily into eventual seizure and quarantine of the SHEVA babies out of a refusal to reject the essentially Christian beliefs of creation. Stephenson's future goes in nearly the opposite direction, in which there exists almost no official governmental law. Yet, there still exists religion, and its franchise holds a monopoly over the entire spectrum of beliefs. Both authors accurately describe the recent trend of religion in the United States, particularly in the 2004 presidential election. Religion has become one of the most powerful influence in American politics, and it is only just beginning to gain momentum.

Darwin's Radio has an abundance of science and social debate, all centered on the sudden emergence of SHEVA. Protagonist Kaye Lang is a molecular biologist that is pulled into the thick of things when her work leads to the discovery to the first viable endogenous retrovirus in humans, Scattered Human Endogenous Retro Virus Activation, a.k.a. SHEVA. Its most susceptible victims are pregnant women, in whom the infection appears to cause the miscarriage their baby, only to become impregnated again immediately. Called Herod's Flu, America is in an uproar as the infected women either miscarry or give birth to innumerable mutated stillborns. With the help of Christopher Dickens, who has spent his life hunting viruses for the CDC, and Mitch Rafelson, a discredited anthropologist, Lang discovers the shocking truth, that SHEVA is not merely a disease but rather a tool of evolution. Lang suddenly goes from the experimenter to the experiment when she purposely becomes infected and pregnant. When she gives birth to a healthy baby girl, it becomes patently evident that SHEVA is not a child killing virus. Yet, the baby girl to whom she gives birth is a part of a wholly new generation of humans, and the theory of punctuated evolution in humans is suddenly brought into modern reality. Faced with a radical change to human existence, the government embarks on an era that is reminiscent of the McCarthyism in its past.

Stephenson creates an alternate reality, the metaverse, in which his protagonist, Hiro, spends the majority of his time. In the real world, Hiro delivers pizzas, but in the metaverse, he is a part of its early development and the last of the freelance hackers. When his friend and former employer, Da5id is offered a mysterious new drug called snow crash, they expect nothing to come of it, as they are in the metaverse and not the real world. Yet, after the snow crash shows Da5id a special bitmap pattern in the form of snow on a scroll, it leaves him only a shadow of his former self outside of the metaverse. Hiro's search for truth concerning snow crash eventually leads him to L. Bob Rife, an extremely powerful man that controls "Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates," a franchised group of churches. As one of the main sources of religion for people, and he uses it to distribute snow crash, creating an army of subordinates. Based on theories of Lagos on ancient Sumerian myths and the tower of Babel, Rife's plan is to revert people to a single language with the help of this new drug.

Bear describes beautifully the snowballing effect, as he rapidly turns American government towards an era of McCarthy like terror. Unable to explain the sudden emergence of SHEVA, the people view it as a sweeping epidemic and a sign from God (Bear 419). The idea of punctuated evolution is one that America cannot accept, as it goes against the beliefs of creation that are so firmly ingrained into society. Calling the SHEVA children spawns of Satan, the right wing conservatives seize control of the government (Bear 433). Beginning with simple rights of privacy, those that are marked with SHEVA are singled out and eventually forced into quarantine. American society is not able to comprehend the implications of SHEVA, and instead, they push themselves into further ignorance as they adamantly hold onto their traditional religious beliefs.

Stephenson essentially describes religion as a virus, blurring the lines between real belief and viral infection. Hiro begins with the simple idea that snow crash is the drug that basically killed Da5id, as he is pulled further into the truth though, the distinction between viruses, drugs, and religions blur (Stephenson 200). Religion is described as viral, the information and beliefs spread and are replicated among minds. It takes a hold of a person and Stephenson argues that data imprints itself within the mind, and is thus virtually impossible to remove. Churches like L. Bob Rife's franchise are a part of the post rational era, in which religion is used to spread the viral infection (Stephenson 230). A person cannot make a rational decision because of this, the data that has been imprinted is so ingrained into their minds that it becomes the basis for the majority of their actions and decisions.

Bear and Stephenson describe an America in which religion has successfully hijacked the minds of society. When faced with the impossibility of punctuated evolution and a creation of a new human, America refuses to accept the idea. It seeks the shelter of deep rooted Christian conservative beliefs, and goes to extreme lengths to maintain its hold on American Society. Using religion like a viral infection, American society is essentially brainwashed with snow crash. The religious data that is imprinted into their minds becomes a part of them, and they are unable to rationalize their thoughts. The recent presidential election of 2004 showcased a combination of both Bear's and Stephenson's predictions as Christian beliefs swept the nation. Despite a unanimous agreement among experts that John Kerry won the debates, George Bush managed to win the election by a definite and non disputable margin. Exit polls showed that a plurality of voters cited moral values as the main reason for their vote (Milbank). The religious morality of the nation, ingrained into their minds, took precedence over all other issues. The hold that the right wing Christians have on America has actually increased over the decades and the impact of its influence is bound to become evident over the next four years.

The impact of religion on politics became ever more obvious in the most recent presidential election. Both candidates, including the Democratic nominee John Kerry, consistently referenced their personal faith in God, in attempts to win the increasingly powerful support of the Christian community in America. With eighty percent of Americans claiming a belief in God and sixty percent saying that they agree with Church values, America is one of the most religious nations (The Triumph). What is changing is that the nation is becoming more intense in its religious beliefs, and more lenient in terms of merging the church and the state. Gallup polls in the 1960's showed that a majority of Americans opposed the idea of churches becoming involved in politics. In the past decades that majority has undergone a switch and now over half think that it is permissible (The Triumph). In the past, religious leaders entered politics only reluctantly, but in the recent years political involvement has become a responsibility for the people.

It is fair to say that the Christian Evangelicals swept a rather hefty portion of the votes, and were a great contribution to the conservative vote. About 26 million of the Evangelical population turned out, making up 23 percent of the electorate (Milbank). Despite the fact that their percentage of the electorate did not increase since the last election, for this election 7 percent more of the evangelicals who voted, voted for Bush. That is about 3.5 million extra votes from 2000 to 2004, meaning that since his total vote rose by 9 million, the evangelical Protestants alone accounted for one third of his increased vote (The Triumph). Hitherto, the evangelicals were the targets of the Republican Party campaign, this year they became involved in grassroots politics themselves. They asked for and distributed voter registration cards and collected the signatures necessary to put one the anti gay marriage initiatives on the ballot. Beyond that though, evangelical leaders became a core part of the Bush campaign. The chief campaign chairman held weekly phone conference with prominent evangelical Christians, including Jim Dobson, the head of Focus on the Family, and the Reverend Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention. Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition, was instated as the campaign's regional coordinator for the southeast. The evangelicals have now become a solid asset to the Republicans, and one of its most powerful bases of support.
The power of the evangelicals in America is something that the Bush administration has tapped into, and now they must repay the favor. Evangelical leaders, once content return quietly to their pulpits, are now engaged daily in meetings and conferences in attempts to review their legislative agendas (Rosenberg). The goals of the Christian conservatives include banning gay marriage, restricting abortion, outlawing flag burning, conservative judicial appointments, tougher obscenity laws, school vouchers for Christian schools, and a ban on any form of human cloning. With fewer Democrats in the Senate to stand in the way of the right wing conservatives, it is likely that evangelical leaders will have easier access to Bush's desk (Milbank). Thus, it follows that Christian leaders are going to play an increasing role during this next presidential term.

With the Republican sweeping victory in this past election, there is an abundance of conservative politicians, including those that hold some of the more extreme views of the Christian right. The new senator from Oklahoma, Tom Coburn, is not only fighting vehemently against abortion, but is also calling for the death penalty for those doctors who break such a law. John Thune, the new senator of South Dakota, is a creationist. Another is Jim DeMint of South Carolina who said previously that single mothers should not teach in schools (The Triumph). With as many as three justices expected to retire in this next presidential term, the judicial turnover is going to be one of the most crucial points of the next four years (Rosenberg). If the Bush administration manages to fill the judicial vacancies with religious conservatives, it would only increase the popularity of such extreme right wing beliefs.

Bear and Stephenson predict that religion's hold on America will grow until it merges into politics and the government. It seems far fetched that Christian conservatism would reject such obvious truths or that religious beliefs are similar to a viral infection. Yet, the very ideas that both authors wrote about are now rapidly coming into existence in American politics. As the Evangelical right spreads to a vast number of the population, its beliefs are ingrained into minds in such a way that they take precedence over everything. It is inevitable that this hold on society spreads into the government, and it becomes an issue as Christian conservatism not only undermines the separation of church and state, it fuses the two institutions together. The threat of the Evangelical legislation is all too real as their power in government is constantly growing. Under their influence America can go little else but backwards into further ignorance.

Works Cited

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Rosenberg, Debra, and Rebecca Sinderbrand. "Of Prayer and Payback."

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