Space Trilogy: The natural religion

By Katherine Forbes

March 27, 2012

On page 137 of Out of the Silent Planet, Oyarsa describes “laws that all hnau know such as pity, straight dealing and shame,” among which is love of kindred. Oyarsa says that man’s corruption lies in the fact that he can break any and all of these laws. The ‘love of kindred’, though man still naturally abides by it, has been bent so that man is inclined to do evil in the name of a virtue. This sounds very similar to scholar Robert N. Bellah’s theory of natural religion. Bellah defines natural religion as the broad, lowest common denominator between church establishments in America. The principles of which it is comprised have been generally agreed upon for many centuries to be the indispensible prerequisite for government, and scholar Roger Williams describes it as “written in the hearts of all mankind, yea, even pagans.” This notion presented by Oyarsa therefore would seem to have some truth to it, but what is the role of this “natural religion” in society and according to Lewis?

Bellah is using this common morality found between men as an argument for religious toleration, and the foundations of civil government. Without these common notions of good and bad in a society, republican or democratic government wouldn’t be possible. Men are united by these common elements in their thinking, and this is the foundation for peaceful interactions. Lewis is describing these natural laws as inherent to the nature of God’s creations, and that the fall of men from paradise resulted in their ability to break these laws. We can figure from the contrast between Malacandra and Earth that were men to actually abide by natural law, they, like the Malacandrians, could be peaceful. Even the virtues of men such as a love for their own are vulnerable to distortion by the lawlessness and recklessness which seems to dictate the majority of human behavior. The implication therefore is that it is more natural for men to abide by natural law, and arguably better for them, but they have fallen away from their nature. John Locke uses the argument that natural law is found through reason, therefore reason would appear to be our way back to more natural and arguably healthy behavior.