[net.sf-lovers] A Case of Conscience

Haynes.PA@PARC-MAXC.ARPA (07/07/83)

I don't agree with your plot analysis of "A Case of Conscience".  You
claim that Ruiz-Sanchez decides that the Lithians are in a "state of
sin" because they have "no sense of good or evil".  This isn't quite the
case.  Ruiz-Sanchez' reasons are much more complex. One of his reasons
is that they live a perfectly moral life by force of reason.  But
nothing so simplistic as a lack of the sense of good and evil.  He is a
Jesuit after all.  He concludes that the Lithians are not "in a state of
sin" but rather CREATIONS of the devil.  This is rank heresy (the heresy
of Manichaenism).  What he does about it and what happens makes for a
truly interesting and thought provoking story on the nature of faith and
reality.

	-- Charles

PS. His Black Easter is pretty scary too.  Can anyone tell me where I
can find "Dr. Mirabilis"?