“I was always kind of a Mormon,” Letts confessed.
“Jeez!”
“See what I mean?”
“What?”
Courtney finished his beer and belched politely. “The problem, Mr. McFarlane, is that there are at least as many different versions of Christianity as there are versions of the various Lemurian faiths. I won’t even go into Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism…” He shook his head. “For Catholicism to be the sole representative of human religion on this world might cause some dissent from our very own human ranks!”
Sister Audry glared at Courtney. “I’m sure I don’t understand why you are even here, Mr. Bradford! I gather you are a Darwinist, and little I can imagine could be more corrosive to spiritual unity than the teachings you espouse-that you regularly, openly engage in!”
Courtney goggled at the nun. The sudden attack against him came as a complete surprise. He’d expected to have little participation in the discussion-thus the beer-and had accepted the invitation more out of curiosity than any other reason. He had to remind himself that Sister Audry really didn’t know him well. “My dear sister,” he began, imposing a moderate tone. “I am a Darwinist, as you put it, through evidentiary discovery and understanding, not faith. In faith, I do not recognize even you as my superior!” He glanced at Adar and raised a brow. “One of the discoveries, or rather rediscoveries, I’ve made since coming to your world is that I too am quite the Christian!”
“How utterly preposterous!” scoffed the nun. “How can one possibly be both an evolutionist and a Christian?”
“Quite comfortably and compatibly, I assure you,” Courtney said. “In fact, I invariably find the one position complements the other! Even before I came to this fascinating world, I witnessed- witnessed, my dear-the endless, unstoppable force of evolution at work on a daily basis. In all of that, I saw the direction of the very hand of God”-he glanced at Adar again-“or the Maker of All Things.” He looked back at Sister Audry. “How do you define evolution? I define it as physical and behavioral adaptation to any given species’ environment or situation. Behavior can adapt quite rapidly. You have adapted somewhat to your circumstances here, have you not? Physical adaptations take more time, and there, I think-if you’ll pardon the expression-is the rub between us. Particularly in respect to how those physical adaptations may have been manifested in humanity.”
Sister Audry jerked a nod, and Courtney drew himself up on his cushion. “Personally, I do not believe I am evolved from an ape, although I am relatively certain my ex-wife’s father was. Such a hairy, bestial, primitive…!” He shook his head. “In any event, I don’t see that it matters. Why limit God’s imagination? I believe He, like any master architect, would perceive the sundry ways in which His various creations might be better formed to suit their conditions. By His hand, those adaptations would begin!”
“Now you sound dangerously like a Freemason! With your notions of an architect!” Sister Audry scowled. The expression looked out of place on her pleasant features.
“In point of fact…” Courtney began.
With a look of horror, Sister Audry clutched the silver crucifix between her breasts as if a serpent had been revealed in their midst.
Courtney sighed. “You were undoubtedly taught and sincerely believe that man was made in the image of God. I must pose you some difficult questions: What is man? Are we upright apes like my former father-in-law, or are we sentient, spiritual beings capable of comprehending and returning the love of our Maker? What is the image of God? Is it the black one? The red? The brown, yellow… or just the white?” He nodded at Adar. “Or might He be covered in fur? You yourself observed no physical disqualification for salvation when you went among the Javanese and Malays to do His work! You continue it here. Does God have a tail? I submit that God is without form-or is of any form He chooses! The only ‘image’ we need concern ourselves with is the spiritual one!”
“But… you claim to be a Christian! How can that be? I grant you might be a deist, or some other species of heathen, but how can you claim yourself a Christian?”
“The same way you do, my dear: I have heard and believe the Word. But the Lord Jesus Christ, our spiritual savior, appeared only briefly, and his teachings and works were immediately known to but a very few. It was up to others, like yourself ultimately, to spread the knowledge of those works and teachings about. Certainly you don’t believe that all those throughout the centuries who lived and died in ignorance of the Word are damned? The loving God I worship would not make beings such as we only to have them suffer such an automatic fate!”
Courtney shrugged, somewhat apologetically. He wasn’t much given to proselytizing, or even to sharing his own beliefs so freely. “Perhaps that is your purpose here, my dear,” he said more softly. “Your destiny, as it were. But do not reject the possibility that our savior might have come to this place already. If God is capable of creating other worlds such as this, as I certainly believe He is, as I believe He is capable of anything, perhaps he will send or has already sent his son here as well.”
“I don’t see the problem,” Keje grumbled, surprising everyone. “As I understand it, as Captain Reddy has explained it to me, this Christianity is just another path, another tack sailed to the same destination, to join the Maker of All Things in the Heavens, is it not?” Reluctantly, even Sister Audry nodded. “Chairman Adar is correct that all those who follow such different paths have put their differences aside, for now, at least, to work for the common good-our very survival. Yet, in his wisdom, he has not prevented the priests of Aryaal or B’mbaado or even Sular from ministering to those souls they tend. Why should Sister Audry be different? Her practices are strange, but to me, so are those of the other priests I mentioned. It seems that a simple statement by Adar that her path is yet another, different one leading to the same place should be sufficient to prevent this persecution he fears. And so what if a few people convert?”
“It is not that simple,” Sister Audry protested.
“Let us make it so, at least for now, shall we?” Keje challenged her.
The nun sighed. “Very well. But I will not lie.”
“No one is asking that you do,” Adar assured her, “but I think my lord Keje has the right of it.” He paused, grasping his hands in front of him on the table. He hoped this issue was solved, but he couldn’t be sure. Why could nothing be easy? “If no one objects then, I will consider this a closed issue. I will make a formal statement recognizing this Catholic Church and, as has been discussed, proclaim it as yet another path to the Heavens, as far as the Alliance is concerned.” Adar blinked imploringly at Sister Audry. “Is that sufficient? For now? Can you at least refrain from antagonizing those who believe differently?”
Sister Audry nodded. “I can. As I have said, I have much practice at that. I will extol the virtues of the Church, ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus, but I will say nothing against any other.”
“Splendid!” Courtney boomed. “I do so enjoy consensus! Might there be more beer to be had?”
“Sounds okay,” Sandra said, “in theory.” She looked at Princess Rebecca, who’d said nothing at all during the debate. “What do you think?”
Rebecca looked uncomfortable. “Sounds swell to me,” she replied reluctantly. She’d been picking up more and more Americanisms. Courtney sometimes joked that her people might declare war based solely on that. “But the issue may not be closed at all, once we visit my people.”
Sandra nodded. She’d gathered enough from Rebecca to understand that the Empire’s primary rival was still another human civilization that didn’t seem very Catholic at all, despite retaining the name and some of the ceremonies. These others, whom Rebecca referred to only as the Dominion, had inherited many of the cruel and expansive methods and practices of a much earlier Church than was represented by Sister Audry. Apparently, they’d incorporated some radical elements of other “faiths” as well. Rebecca had come to know the nun and she knew a little history, so she understood there were substantial differences between Sister Audry’s Church and what it had become under the Dominion. She wasn’t at all sure her people would see any such distinction.