That does sound confusing, particularly your last paragraph. It seems counterintuitive to me that the existence of extraterrestrials proves the existence of god, or that the existence of god would lead to the breakdown of a communist society, at least in its pure form, in which everyone gets what they need. Not that the USSR had communism in its pure form, of course. On the other hand, if the story already dragged, it probably would have dragged more if the author spent time explaining his philosophy on religion and communism.
The issue with extraterrestrials proving the existence of god was probably the biggest head scratcher. Not only did it make no sense, but the author made no effort to back up his theory, which was that whoever had captured the planes would have immense power, would be like a god. Which is, of course, true. But being like a god, and being a god are two very different things.
The thing with communism seems to be his contention that, once that pillar of communist thought was knocked down, that there is no god, then the rest would fall like dominoes. Again, something he didn't give his reasons for thinking it. But, as you say, it probably would have made the story drag more than it did.
I've heard that theory. Since communism assumes no god, it (for some *hand-wave* reason) would collapse if it could be proven that God (the Western Christian one, I guess) exists. I heard it growing up but never gave it much thought (since I was not religious).
Exactly. It would have been different if the author had given his reasons for thinking the way he did, back up his hypotheses. But he didn't. Actually, I don't think that he could have. Which was really a shame, because I've enjoyed many of his other books.
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The thing with communism seems to be his contention that, once that pillar of communist thought was knocked down, that there is no god, then the rest would fall like dominoes. Again, something he didn't give his reasons for thinking it. But, as you say, it probably would have made the story drag more than it did.
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I've heard that theory. Since communism assumes no god, it (for some *hand-wave* reason) would collapse if it could be proven that God (the Western Christian one, I guess) exists. I heard it growing up but never gave it much thought (since I was not religious).
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I was hoping you would say it was good since the initial premise sounds fun. Sigh ...
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The book had its high points, but, all in all, it was a disappointment.
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