...or, well, humans self-exiled to the moon Anarres in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed (1974).
Is marriage really necessary? Is monogamy overrated? Le Guin, outspoken atheist, gives in a single scene of dialogue a better defense of marriage, of a bond "of body and mind and all the years of life" than I've read in much contemporary Catholic (or other Christian) fiction.
I found the entire scene quoted; it's a couple pages, but it's worth it:
http://mbravo.livejournal.com/341191.html
Why is this notable, even if it's a good read? Now more than ever, popular culture trivializes marriage. But confidence in such a union may be expressed even by a writer with no religious loyalties, because the concept seems most beautiful, most true to her, most within the natural law, instinctively to be celebrated.
This bit, and actually the whole book, is light on the scifi and heavy on the characters and social commentary, so even if you're not a genre fan, I'd recommend it.
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I think some of my favorite poems, plays, and books that support what I believe were written by non-christians. I could pontificate about why I think this is, but my mind isn't really in the mood.
You will be happy to hear that 'The Dispossessed' is waiting at the library on hold for me.
Hey, if not being Christian disqualified people from framing big human questions and aproximating many of the right answers, the Classics department would be virtually non-existent. 8^)
What fascinates me is that this is a woman writer and the woman in the dialogue first sees the need -- in today's world where the sexual revolution often goes on in the name of liberating women and science fiction often claims it as an advancement, it's nice to see a woman science fiction author point out that women aren't liberated by the lack of the real bond. It rings true very strongly; women do seem more likely than men to realize that need, the scene and its details are not just something that would be there for "propoganda" but something that's there because it's true.
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