“ The Wrong Side of Heaven , the Righteous Side of Hell ”
him that meaning is found in scientific exploration , not ritual or faith . Neal Fisk , on the other hand , lives in a world where proof of God is a given fact , yet he comes to know that God dispenses justice , kindness , and mercy arbitrarily . We , too , may question why God , like the God in “ Hell Is the Absence of God ,” rewards the unrighteous and damns the righteous seemingly without rhyme or reason . In “ Division by Zero ,” religion is , for Carl and Renee , “ the audacious attempt to conceive of the entire universe as humanly significant ”; yet , they find their universe not only insignificant but false ( Berger 28 ). Chiang ’ s story speaks to those whose belief structure has crumbled under intense scrutiny and whose search for meaning leads them not to a structured and orderly universe , but only leads them further into chaos .
As with all science fiction , Ted Chiang ’ s stories reveal more of our present than our present reveals to us . We are not given definitive answers to God ’ s role in our world ; instead , his stories force us to question our own beliefs . Chiang ’ s apocalyptic literature is born out of our own profound disillusionment that is centered “ not on the world , but on the promise of God ... which has dimmed , flickered , and for some expired ” ( Krueziger 11 ). Yet , these stories do not leave us with , or lead us to , despair and nihilism . Ted Chiang ’ s apocalypse reveals and reaffirms that meaning and therefore , life , come out of death�the death of falsely held beliefs .
WORKS CITED
Berger , Peter . The Sacred Canopy . Doubleday , 1967 .
Bishop , John . “ Faith .” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Fall 2010 . Web . 9 Feb . 2016 .
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