Morality And Religion In The Sparrow By Mary Doria Russell

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Before even engaging in a meaningful discussion about morality and religion, some people will argue that within life you have to have a religious background of some sorts to understand your own basic moral code. These people will point to the violent terrorist who claim that they are committing crimes in the act of their god as the only reason to categorize a whole group of people and label everyone as the same based on actions from a select few. However, the science-fiction writer Mary Doria Russell (1996) argued otherwise in The Sparrow, On page 401, Vincenzo Giuliani quotes Matthew 10:29, “‘Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.’” Then, Felipe adds, “But the sparrow still falls.” In essence, this means that despite the fact that God is present in all situations …show more content…

Because he is certain of God’s existence, he fails to understand why unspeakable things were allowed to happen to him. Emilio, essentially, knows that God is aware of every Sparrow that falls, but the irony in this novel is that the sparrow still falls. Within the two separate cultures Emilio was subjugated to life where in contrast to his own the two worlds are totally different, the cultural normals on Rakhat looked at through the eyes of a human from earth is seen as barbaric and “inhumane” but on Rakhat to go through the procedures that they put Emilio and his friends through was suppose to be a great honor. Considering that Mary Doria Russell removed herself from the Catholic church to become an atheist, but later realized she, “... [her] ethics and morality were rooted in religion” (Russell 412), this novel is meant to do what religion is meant to do: give a person something to work with. Depending on the person, this book can either refute or support the idea of faith and existence of

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