Does faith have space in science fiction?

As a person of faith who's also an unabashed science fiction and fantasy fan, my interest was piqued by this recent article on God Is My Co-Pilot which looks at how scifi addresses religious issues.

Despite a recent trend toward secularism, God is still front and center in the ages old debate between science and religion. There is a popular misconception that a great divide exists between science and religion. In fact, science-fiction has always tackled religious themes — many times, quite overtly. While the trend recently has seemed to tip slightly in favor of the secular persuasion, God is making a strong comeback... [Battlestar] Galactica’s trip down the path certainly isn’t new in either the realm of science-fiction or television, but given the current climate and trends toward secularism, I find it refreshing. It does represent somewhat of a radical departure from recent, overt attempts of the popular media to avoid religious issues, let alone religious controversy.

While the article's main pro-religious example is the reimagined BSG series, it makes two major omissions. In the scifi genre, Star Trek is a classic example of an intentionally secular series, where most - if any - religious references and beliefs were "alien" in nature, and humanity or science usually prevailed over any higher power. This was largely due to Gene Roddenberry's own atheism, and remained consistent, with few variations on the theme, throughout the various spin-offs. Conversely, Babylon 5 which was created and for the most part written by JM Straczynski (coincidentally another atheist, but raised Catholic), was remarkably open and pluralistic about religion, and far more "ambiguous" in addressing the science vs faith debate.

My own preference for faith in scifi is somewhat in between. I'm drawn to allegories - sans any heavy handed preaching - where spiritual elements are woven throughout the hero's (or heroes') journey of self discovery, often fraught with sacrifice, betrayal, love, war, doubt and eventually, belief. In a similar vein, writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, George Lucas and Eric Kripke have also cited Joseph Campbell's universal journey of the hero across multiple mythologies as key influences on their respective works. This is what attracts me to shows like Star Wars, Supernatural, BSG and to some extent, Stargate and Heroes; ancient mythology and more modern classics by CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Madeleine L'Engle, and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, Piers Anthony's Adept and Stephen King's Gunslinger series.

If you're a Supernatural fan, read more here!.