A Bit of a Theological Mess

I’m not quite sure how to feel about Earthseed. On the one hand, I feel as though it’s perfectly valid to have a religion based on observable sociological phenomenon. On the other hand, I feel as though such a religion should also have some sort of illogical element to it. That is, in order for it to be based in faith, there has to be something that cannot be easily explained by conventional logic; otherwise you literally just end up worshipping sociological theories. I also feel slightly concerned with the fact that Lauren seems to dance around the issue of her religion inevitably getting out of control. Like she addresses it, but never comes up with a solution to the problem. There are multiple examples in both fiction and real life of religions that have become warped or exploited, and if Lauren is planning to build her new community on Earthseed, she should probably have some sort of plan to keep it from turning into a damaging force. One especially concerning aspect of this is the fact that there don’t appear to be any Earthseed verses on kindness, compassion, or love. While these aren’t necessarily required aspects of a religion, it does occur to me that it could be easier to warp a religion into a dogmatic crusade or faith-fueled holocaust if there is nothing in the religion explicitly telling you to treat others well. Obviously people shouldn’t need to be told such things, but if there’s anything Lauren should have learned in this dismal world it’s that people can’t be trusted to not hurt one another.