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PaperclipPerfector  9d ago (text post)   23799 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 24, 2026

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I’m inclined to forgive Project Hail Mary for that given the that it’s a giant Jesus allegory.

I don't think it is a Jesus allegory. There's certainly the Hail Mary pun, but plot-wise it's just a straightforward 'hero overcoming the odds' story written by an atheist.

-Dr. “Grace” (heh) is the only man who can save humanity

-After some initial reluctance in a pastoral garden area he is nabbed by soldiers and crucified along with two other scientists.

-In the underworld, he meets Rocky. Literally made out of dirt of like Adam. Also rocks are used as a spiritually significant metaphor throughout the bible: raising up new children of Abraham from these rocks, on this rock I will build my church, I will replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh, etc etc.

Rocky is screwed. Rocky’s entire people are screwed. He’s trying to find the truth but there’s things about the universe that he just can’t understand without Grace showing him.

-the whole middle act is Rocky learning to live a life like Grace, even though as a sentient rock he will never really be able to competently follow his example.

-This culminates with Rocky’s death, both a metaphor for the death of the old man and being born again, and the literal physical martyrdom of the saints.

-Rocky awakes out of the underworld a new heaven and a new earth. Even though he lost his life for Dr Grace’s sake he saved it. And now he gets to stay with Grace forever.

It’s about as subtle as a rock.

story written by an atheist

So is Steven King, but he still wrote the Stand

I think you're really grasping at straws. Here's a quote from Weir himself:

I dislike social commentary. Like… I really hate it. When I’m reading a book, I just want to be entertained, not preached at by the author. Plus, it ruins the wonder of the story if I know the author has a political or social axe to grind. I no longer speculate about all possible outcomes of the story because I know for a fact that the universe of that book will conspire to ensure that the author’s political agenda is validated. I hate that.

I put no politics or social commentary into my stories at all. Anyone who thinks they see something like that is reading it in on their own. I have no point to make, and I’m not trying to affect the reader’s opinion on anything. My sole job is to entertain, and I stick to that.

He's talking more about politics, but when the author describes himself as an agnostic and says he deliberately avoids putting a political or social commentary in his books, I really don't think you can conclude that the book is a religious allegory.

In Protestant America, "Hail Mary" is more likely to be a gridiron-driven reference to an unlikely last-minute turnaround than it is to be a reference to the common Catholic prayer.

I'm not sure how it's possible to reference the former without referencing the latter, since the former exists as a reference to the latter.

The pun in Hail Mary is a reference to the prayer ("Hail Mary, full of Grace")

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