Faith, Fallout, and the Future: Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction in the Early Postwar Era

religions Article Faith, Fallout, and the Future: Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction in the Early Postwar Era Michael Scheibach Independent Researcher, Miami, FL 33179, USA; [email protected] Abstract: In the early postwar era, from 1945 to 1960, Americans confronted a dilemma that had never been faced before. In the new atomic age, which opened with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, they now had to grapple with maintaining their faith in a peaceful and prosperous future while also controlling their fear of an apocalyptic future resulting from an atomic war. Americans’ subsequent search for reassurance translated into a dramatic increase in church membership and the rise of the evangelical movement. Yet, their fear of an atomic war with the Soviet Union and possible nuclear apocalypse did not abate. This article discusses how six post-apocalyptic science fiction novels dealt with this dilemma and presented their visions of the future; more important, it argues that these novels not only reflect the views of many Americans in the early Cold War era, but also provide relevant insights into the role of religion during these complex and controversial years to reframe the belief that an apocalypse was inevitable. Keywords: atomic age; atomic bomb; atomic war; apocalypse; evangelism; faith; faith in the future; postwar; cold war; social science fiction; Fahrenheit 451; nineteen eighty-four; the shrinking man; shadow on the hearth; on the beach; a canticle for Leibowitz Citation: Scheibach, Michael. 2021. Faith, Fallout, and the Future: Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction in 1. Introduction the Early Postwar Era. Religions 12: 520. https://doi.org/10.3390/ Martha Bartter, author of The Way to Ground Zero: The Atomic Bomb in American Science rel12070520 Fiction, argues that many Americans expressed guilt and anxiety after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even though the bombings undoubtedly helped to end World Academic Editors: Yuki Miyamoto War II. Americans also exhibited increasing concerns about a future atomic war; communist and Susumu Shimazono influence and possible infiltration in the government, education, and other areas; and the expansion of governmental power. Yet, despite these general concerns, which permeated Received: 28 May 2021 society, writers of fiction in the early postwar era, 1945–1960, often encountered criticism, Accepted: 7 July 2021 and even banning, for dealing with these issues. Writers of science fiction, however, had a Published: 10 July 2021 better opportunity to comment on sensitive and controversial political and social issues by incorporating them into their post-apocalyptic storylines. “The fantastic elements of the Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral stories were a cover, or a frame, for discussion of many real issues which were hardly open with regard to jurisdictional claims in to serious consideration in any other popular medium” writes Tom Shippey in his book, published maps and institutional affil- Hard Reading: Learning from Science Fiction (Shippey 2016, p. 227). iations. Bartter goes on to suggest that science fiction became more rather than less pessimistic as the postwar progressed, in many ways reflecting what historian Paul Boyer calls a vision of “bleakness and despair” (Bartter 1988, p. 2; Boyer 1985, pp. 264–65). This paper discusses six science fiction novels that fall within this vision. George Orwell’s Nineteen Copyright: © 2021 by the author. Eighty-Four, Judith Merril’s Shadow on the Hearth, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Richard Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Matheson’s The Shrinking Man, Neville Shute’s On the Beach, and Walter Miller, Jr.’s A This article is an open access article Canticle for Leibowitz all provide a better understanding of Americans’ concerns and fears at distributed under the terms and the opening of the atomic age. conditions of the Creative Commons Daniel Wojcik, in his book, The End of the World As We Know It: Faith, Fatalism and Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// Apocalypse in America, argues that the proliferation of nuclear weapons has resulted in creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ “widespread fatalism about the future of humanity.” He writes, “The dropping of atomic 4.0/). Religions 2021, 12, 520. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070520 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 12 Religions 2021, 12, 520 Daniel Wojcik, in his book, The End of the World As We Know It: Faith, Fatalism2 of and 11 Apocalypse in America, argues that the proliferation of nuclear weapons has resulted in “widespread fatalism about the future of humanity.” He writes, “The dropping of atomic bombsbombs on on Hiroshima Hiroshima and and Nagasaki Nagasaki in in August August 1945 1945 initiated initiated an an era era of of nuclear nuclear apocalypti- apocalyp- cismticism that that has has flourished flourished in in American American religious religious and and secular secular cultures” cultures” (Wojcik (Wojcik 1999 1999,, p. p. 1). 1). TheThe novels novels cited cited here, here, by by mirroring mirroring the widespreadthe widespread fears fears about about an unavoidable an unavoidable apocalypse, apoca- providelypse, provide another another perspective perspective on the postwar on the postwar religious religious flourish toflourish reassure to Americansreassure Ameri- that theircans lives that hadtheir meaning lives had and meaning that their and faith—orthat their “atomicfaith—or faith,” “atomic a term faith,” often a term used often during used theseduring years—in these years—in an uncharted an uncharted future wouldfuture would be rewarded be rewarded (see Figure (see Figure1). Addressing 1). Addressing the significancethe significance of “atomic of “atomic faith,” faith,” newspaper newspaper columnist columnist H. H. I. PhillipsI. Phillips wrote wrote that that scientists scientists mightmight control control the the power power of of the the atom, atom, but but their their achievements achievements did did not comparenot compare to the to “fusion the “fu- ofsion the gospelsof the gospels and the and Psalms.” the Psalms.” Rather than Rather fear thethan deadly fear the effects deadly of radioactive effects of poisoning,radioactive Phillipspoisoning, urged Phillips people urged to place people their to faith place in thetheir “radioactivity” faith in the “radioactivity” of the church. of “I the believe church. in the“I atomicbelieve rosaryin the atomic beads, therosary atomic beads, prayer the bookatomic and prayer the atomic book and thumb-worn the atomic family thumb-worn Bible,” hefamily wrote. Bible,” “It is myhe wrote. belief that“It is it my is not belief through that it the is not blinding through glow the of blinding hydrogen glow bombs of hydro- that mangen willbombs end that his man harassments will end andhis harassments worries, but and through worries, a blinding but through glow ofa blinding atomic faith, glow andof atomic through faith, a white and through cloud, not a white of desolation cloud, not and of death,desolation but ofand Faith, death, Hope but andof Faith, Charity” Hope (Phillipsand Charity” 1954, p.(Phillips 20). 1954, p. 20). FigureFigure 1. 1.“Atomic “Atomic faith” faith” became became the the theme theme of of many many religious religious sermons, sermons, such such as as these these in in Owensboro, Owensboro, Kentucky (top) and Detroit, Michigan. Kentucky (top) and Detroit, Michigan. ManyMany Americans, Americans, worried worried about about the the threat threat of of the the “blinding “blinding glow” glow” of of an an atomic atomic bomb, bomb, turnedturned to to religion religion as as the the best best means means of of revitalizing revitalizing their their faith faith in in the the future. future. The The view view that that the atomic bomb had sealed the fate of humankind with an impending and unavoidable apocalypse, in fact, served to spark a resurgence in the postwar religious movement. Robert Ellwood, author of The Fifties Spiritual Marketplace, points out that church membership Religions 2021, 12, 520 3 of 11 grew from 57 percent of the population in 1950 to 63.3 percent by 1960. This boom in religion, Ellwood argues, can be attributed largely to three major elements: the dramatic increase in population during the decade, the expansion of suburbia and the middle class, and the proliferation of churches to attend. He emphasizes, however, that even with this religious renaissance, fundamental differences remained between Protestants, Catholics, and Jews; among the various Protestant denominations; traditional religious faiths and evangelicals; and liberal thinkers and fundamentalists (Ellwood 1997). Yet, in terms of their approach to the threat of atomic warfare, the various religious faiths shared the same general vision of a biblical apocalypse that offered a continuation of civilization. “By asserting that history and worldly renewal are predetermined,” writes Wojcik, “religious apocalyptic belief systems affirm that the cosmos is ordered, ... and that a millennial realm of peace and justice ultimately will be created” (Wojcik 1999, p. 4). 2. Discussion The probability that the next war would be an atomic war, and that there would not be any guarantee of survival, represented one of the most critical issues in the early postwar era. Paul Boyer, in his seminal work, By the Bomb’s Early Light, contends that by 1950, the United States had become engulfed by fear of another, more horrific, atomic war with the Soviet Union. Americans, according to Boyer, had “a dull sense of grim inevitability as humankind stumbled toward the nothingness that almost surely lay somewhere down the road—no one knew how far” (Boyer 1985, p. 350). Shippey agrees, writing that after 1945, “society as a whole was adjusting gingerly to the possibility of nuclear extinction” (Shippey 2016, p. 211). Surveys in the late 1940s reinforced these conclusions by finding 64 percent of respondents believing atomic bombs would be used against the United States in the near future (Boyer 1985, p. 23). The nation’s use of the atomic bomb raised an outburst of opposition within the religious community.

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