Not much of a revelation, just an observation, but how much of sci-fi pushes the ideal that Humanity's path forward is unification?
Star Trek is a major one, and many would state it was a progressive show, and it earnestly was.
It also stated that in its ideal future, there's a Federation of like-minded extraterrestrials, and as a member species, Humanity lives in a united, post-scarcity society under a single government.
To that end, how many alien species in these stories are so inhuman, in that they have no differences, a world-wide government, a single language?
It's laughable how direct the propaganda was, and continues to be.
I think it may even be down to monotheism because it's so hard to explain how one entity could do all that crap.
Yeah, and I wouldn't disagree with that. It's reasonable, especially if you'r the alien's protected class.
There's an aspect of incentive to be grateful for a hyper-intelligent and seemingly all powerful being that actually tries to be nice to you and help you out of catastrophic dilemmas. That being said, I would still push a "don't meet your heroes" point: the closer you get to your "Gods" the more you would not be willing to just arbitrarily worship them. Distance from their subjects promotes mysticism as imagination fills the void. But the more you know of your "Gods" the more you would come to see them as simply alien.
Imagine if you actually lived in Metropolis and hung out with Superman. Why would you ever worship him if you knew the guy. He could be your friend, but not your God no matter how truly powerful he is.
The Federation, while not purely secular, is written by people who are. And not even in the good way. As anti-theist as I am, I can still respect the concept of how people use religion to orient themselves and their society. I believe they can do better because I'm one of those "God is dead and it is we who have killed him... ... ... and that's a good thing" style people.
They don't really know how to actually deal with religion properly, the best they can do is "Magic Sky fairy?", which I can understand, but is un-nuanced to a people who have a fuck-load more to go on than most religions.
"No no. Our Gods literally manipulate space-time. There is no God Of The Gaps. We know precisely how powerful they are... and it's a bit scary."