Starfield:Charity in a Godless Universe: Part III

Charity in a Godless Universe

Amelia Sang

Part III:

When I was 19 years old, my church decided it was time to leave.

The announcement was filled with phrases like "fresh start" and "renewal". Apparently, our settlement had taken in too many non-believers. The congregation would pack up, and build a new colony on a distant world: a place without outsiders, where their faith could become the law.

"Cowards! You're running away!" I begged my family not to leave. "These people came here for our help. If we take their generators, how will the rest of the colony survive?"

To most of my community, these arguments made no difference. They could only see the outsiders as outsiders: non-believers, who were preventing them from living a pure life.

"These people have been coming here since you were a little girl." My father told me, one night, "They've had nearly twenty years to hear the word of god, but that's not what they want. We will leave them to their lives, and they should leave us to ours."

Word traveled quickly through the poor parts of the settlement. As the departure date neared, the other colonists became desperate. Protests were common outside of the church buildings, and outside of our Starport, where a large, arc-like ship was being constructed.

Finally, on departure day, dozens of colonists gathered at the entrance to the Starport. They blocked the church from entering - a hundred gaunt faces, against a hundred blue robes.

But the group was no match for the church's security forces. That team cleared a path, and the congregation boarded their arc. The crowd could only watch as the ship roared to life, and then vanished into the sky.

I stood in that crowd, watching as well. I could not bring myself to leave. Any faith which abandons the helpless was a faith I could not believe in. A loving god who inspired such cruelty must not be real. I would stay behind, for whatever came next.