#30. A CASE OF CONSCIENCE By James Blish

Published : 1958
Pages : 185
Overall Mark : 8/10

The planet Lithia appears to be a paradise world, resembling Earth in the age of dinosaurs. The Lithians themselves are intelligent reptiles, twelve feet tall, gentle, with no conception of hatred, greed or crime. Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez, a Jesuit biologist, confronted with an apparent Garden of Eden, whose people have no idea of God, has to decided whether they are a divine creation or are in fact creatures of the Devil.

JAMES BLISH (1921-1975)
An immensely influential SF writer and critic, Blish was one of the Futurians, a group of writers who also included Isaax Asimov and Frederik Pohl. Among his other notable books are The Seedling Stars, Black Easter, and the Hugo-winning A Case Of Conscience. Blish moved to England in 1969, and died in 1975 at the early age of 54.

VERDICT
This parable concerning how the Church deals with cultures they have no pre-existing knowledge of was extremely controversial on its original release, but if you can look past that or even embrace it this is a well written and well thought through story that brings into question religious beliefs and proves that a conscoius belief in God may not be necessary to become a moral being.