Martians, Demons, Vampires, and Vicars: The Church of England in Post-War Science Fiction

British science fiction is noteworthy for its juxtaposition of the familiar with the threatening, notably locating alien invasions in the Home Counties. This apposition can mean that one emblem of traditional Englishness—the Church of England—sits in tension with a cosmology which includes Martians, alien demons, and other preternatural menaces which challenge Christian teachings on the origins and mechanics of both earthly and heavenly realms. Particular science fiction texts, written after the last period of numerical growth for the Church of England, interpret this institution’s decline. This article analyses the largely overlooked contribution of science fiction to understanding and charting this decline.