The Star – Arthur C. Clarke (1967) [pdf]

[vmilner]

This was absolutely brilliantly read on BBC radio by the actor John Shrapnel some years ago (with 4 other stories from "The Nine Billion Names of God" collection). Unfortunately I can't find a link to it.

[divbzero]

You must be referring to this series [1] from BBC Radio.

[1]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010gkzz/episodes/guide

[divbzero]

I like how Arthur C. Clarke accurately referenced SN 1054 [1] and SN 1572 [2].

[1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1054

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1572

[nine_k]

Arthur Clarke apparently had some beef with Christianity all his writing life, but sometimes he went as bitter as this.

[ud_0]

Could you elaborate a bit on what you mean by "as bitter as this"? Reading the story with no context, it seems almost reverential to Christianity:

We're in the far future and space-faring humans still worship the old religion(s). A supernova that occurred roughly during the time of a key event in the religion's history turned out to have killed off another distant civilization. There is an observation that bad things can happen to good civilizations and how that doesn't square with a benevolent creator deity.

Do you perceive one of these as harsh criticism or was there some other issue in the text that I missed?

[dotancohen]

Interestingly, his equally-aethiest contemporary Asimov accepted the role of religion in people's lives. I forget which book, but Asimov mentions friendly teasing between himself and a religious friend in one of the prefaces. Something about moving the Bible back out of the Fiction section of his personal library.

[viktorcode]

I don't think it is bitterness. What really interesting is the idea he put forth: maybe you could find Bethlehem star out there, in space. I think that's brilliant.

[mikehotel]

“God has no need to justify His actions to man. He who built the Universe can destroy it when He chooses. It is arrogance—it is perilously near blasphemy—for us to say what He may or may not do.”

Possibly taken out of context from the linked document.

[hungryforcodes]

"Some beef". A lot of science types dislike religion in general -- or is this a surprise to you.

[watersb]

Merry Christmas indeed.

[gtech1]

So the edge of the observable universe was 6000 ly away ? Something doesn’t add up

[boxed]

No.

> we are at the very frontiers of the explored Universe.

Explored.

[_kst_]

Isn't that still under copyright?

[rbanffy]

I claim pointing people to this story is fair use during the holidays.

[dotancohen]

Yes, this work was created after Mickey Mouse was created.

[AndrewDucker]

It is, yes.