I was raised a Catholic since my birth. I was baptized in the faith, enrolled in Catholic schools from Kindergarten through 8th grade, served as an altar boy from the 5th through the 8th grade, received the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation while attending Queen of Heaven Elementary School. As did all my friends at the time. In fact, I didn’t know a single non-Catholic until I went to high school.
I bring this up not to to claim I’m a devoutly religious person – which I am most certainly not – but to establish my religious background as but one influence on my work. I may have issues with the Catholic Church, but I respect people who practice their faith in a consistent manner according to the teachings.
I do take issue with those who call themselves Born Again or currently engaged in trying to convert the United States into Christian nation. The former because I suspect rather than admit they have problems with the Catholic Church, they seek out a substitute they believe has the answers they were looking for when the answers could be found within if only they had true faith. The latter I have problems with because they seek to impose their world view on those who see things differently.
In the Knuckles series I primarily created, I depicted a society that was split into 2 halves: the Technocrats and the Devout. As the series was aimed specifically at young readers and I had limited pages with which to tell my stories – to say nothing of being careful not to insert my own personal worldview into the mix at the time – I couldn’t get into the nuances of various belief systems, including those who didn’t believe in an afterlife or a superior deity.
At the time I was writing the early issues of the KNUCKLES series, I established the lead character came from a broken home, i.e., his parents were divorced. I also established the lead character’s mother was a person of faith whereas his father was not, which pretty much mirrored my situation with my parents while I was growing up.
In continuing the storyline I began with in the KNUCKLES series to THE LARA-SU CHRONICLES: SHATTERED TOMORROWS graphic novel I’m currently working on, I recognized religion was going to play a part somewhere in the narrative, so I had to decide the manner and belief system of the characters, especially since once I figured it out, chances were good some corners of the readership were going to erupt at my choices.
Try as I might – and people are welcome to provide examples proving me wrong – I can’t come up with a single example of a major character proclaiming themself an atheist as my character K’Nox is. The same applies to his lifemate Julie-Su, who professes no faith in any deity nor has she raised her daughter with any belief system.
In fact, the Echyd’nya society does not allow children to be indoctrinated in any belief system, as they believe only as adults can they make rational decisions where one’s belief system enters into the picture. It’s only when they begin studies in their cultural heritage (what we would call the Humanities) and philosophical studies that Echyd’nyas make the decision to subscribe to a belief system or not.
As I am depicting life literally on another world in a far distant galaxy from this one, I would expect those societies to have developed far different from ours in a number of ways.
But – I can already hear a number of longtime readers of the SONIC series ask – what about the story AFTERLIFE, in which Knuckles died, encountered the deity of his ancestors and was returned to life? Is that story no longer canon?
The answer is yes, those events did happen, but Knuckles never retained any memory of those events. If one has faith, no further explanation is needed. If one never believed, no explanation is required.
I myself have come to terms that when I die, that’s it. I’ve had my time and then it’s over. In the meantime, I will enjoy the time I do have working on something that will exist beyond my lifetime along with my family and friends.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some drawing to do.