Religion in the Animorphs universe?

[Darth Zakryn]

Ok, we've all seen a lot of alien cultures in Animorphs, but how about their religious beliefs? Do any of them believe in a creator or at least wonder how they got there? The Andalites seem to have none of the curious, constantly-searching-for-answers theme that was on Star Trek a lot. I don't believe the Andalites would be a species to revere or worship a god or even believe in an afterlife, being a more scientifically inclined race. Maybe they had something like "prophets." Plus, I got a lot of these ideas from an excellent fanfic I read called The Liberation Chronicles. And the Hork-Bajir are simple creatures, so I doubt they'd spend a lot of time pondering the nature of spirits, god, an afterlife, etc.

Anyway, please discuss.

Oh, one last question. For the record, lemme say while not a fanatically organized religion nutcase, I DO believe in SOME form of creator and spirits, so I guess you can consider me a spiritual person. So, a question to others on here who might believe in a god or spirits: How do you think the existence of time travel and beings that can bend time and space, etc, affects religion?

My closing statement: And so no one gets after me, yes, I know this is a sensitive topic, so I will be careful and keep an open mind. And I promise to tolerate anyone's views, be they coming from a spiritual person, a religious person, or an atheist.

[Dogman15]

Well, Cassie's Catholic. I think that's implied in book 9. And Jake and Rachel are Jewish - not sure which book. See the bottom of their infoboxes on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassie_(Animorphs)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Berenson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_(Animorphs)
Also, Loren may have been a Christian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minor_humans_(Animorphs)#Loren She apparently mentions "God's creatures" at some point in one of her books, likely #49.

There's a fan fiction called "Sacred Host" by Qoheleth (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3464631/1/Sacred_Host) where a human host named Teresa Sickles tries to teach her Catholic/Christian faith to Toloth 294 and his host Gef Makkil. See more of what I said about this story at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FanficRecs/Animorphs (first recommended by Lindabhair; where I first discovered the story) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dogman15/Sandbox.

In HotPinkCoffee's (she's here on the RAF forum under a different name that I'm forgetting at the moment) story "The Husk" (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6168085/1/The_Husk), Eva is talking at the very end to a reporter, and she briefly discusses religion and what it means post-war.

Based on all of these facts, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that (in my belief system, as I'm a Christian,) God exists in the Animorphs universe. He created humans, Andalites, Arn (which then engineered the Hork-Bajir, which I guess then God gave souls to or something), and Yeerks, along with the other aliens. The Ellimist and Crayak just exist as super-powerful (but not omnipotent) aliens that are allowed to exist. They aren't omnipresent or omniscient either.

You could probably shoehorn in any other major religion into the Animorphs series as well, but since I'm only familiar with Christianity, I only know how to make it work in the Animorphs universe.

And I also look forward to having more engaging discussions with you guys in this thread in the future.

[NateSean]

Religion is really more of an after thought in the Animorphs universe. It doesn't deny the existence of a God or deity, but it doesn't embellish either. Death is pretty finite. When Tobias is killed in MM4 it just coldly ends, mid sentence.

For the record, I, like Zakryn, am more agnostic. Meaning I believe in a higher power, but I don't believe that any religion (human or alien) can possibly explain or encompass it all.

[RYTX]

Among the characters I'd as religion is negligible:  It's mentioned that Cassie's family knows a member of the clergy, Jake and Rachel have Jewish roots, Loren later is a church crisis councilor, Eva sang in a church choir, and it's once mentioned but never seen that Jake's family says grace-None of which says to me that they have any sort of deeply felt and thought out religious believes themselves,  could just be humoring their families. 
I mean come on, teens with little to no religious feelings themselves blame or thank God for everything in their lives: these kids saving the freaking world don't talk about, or even mention God, except maybe once, but I may just be imagining that. KA was pretty solid about keeping whatever faith the kids may have had out of the series.
And between the Ellimist, Crayak, the Pemalites and the Arn, I really don't see her trying to keep creation the right of the divine either.

Now, the much more interesting part: SPACE RELIGION
The Hork-Bajir had mother sky & father deep as their creators/benefactors- came out as a charming little faith to me, like a mini Greek pantheon, and they were content with it till they learned the truth
The mention in 18 that the Leerans have a God, don't remember name, and since we never saw them again, I consider that free ground to make a fan fic about their spirituality.
Not really a lot of other references, but I have to make this call: In TAC Alloran tells Chapman to pray to  "whatever primitive gods" he has. Now while it seems that the modern Andalite doesn't seem much on spirituality, they have been around for 65 million years or more (reference TEC, MM2) and I'm sure they had some sort of religion in there, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that at least the Andalites find it very well developed, and probably a bit more subtle than create/control something & love or damn compared to the faiths little old humans have. Something to ponder.

And I guess I feel inclined to explain that spiritually I'm more of an adamant denier of the divine (I had my falling out with the atheist when I found they had a national org. I mean,WTF, why?) for my own personal affairs. I see a cultural and personal value in having faiths, just don't have any for myself

[Darth Zakryn]

Ah gotcha. And I totally agree about the Arn, Pemalites, and the Ellimist and Crayak. That suggests to me that there really is nothing after death, or at the very most, reincarnation. Especially when the Ellimist saw Rachel's line, her ESSENCE in effect, "coil" into "NOTHINGNESS."

[Phoenix004]

Although mentioning spiritual beliefs on occasion, KA deliberately avoided bring up alien religious beliefs because she didn't want to include religious debate in the series.

[Darth Zakryn]

This doesn't have to turn into a debate. I'm just wondering what people believe about alien culture's beliefs, and maybe a few between us users, but I'm not going to let it get out of hand. I'll respect others' beliefs, as I said.

And yeah RYTX, I agree: Gotta love the Hork-Bajir's beliefs.

[Dogman15]

The mention in 18 that the Leerans have a god, don't remember name, and since we never saw them again, I consider that free ground to make a fan fic about their spirituality.

The Leeran god is called Cha-Ma-Mib. On page 80 of book 18, an unnamed Andalite in a holograph says:

<The action has begun on the continent. There are heavy Yeerk forces. Carry out plan seven four. To our Leeran allies: May your great god Cha-Ma-Mib smile on you this day. And to all Andalite warriors: The People expect that every warrior shall do his duty.>

That's all we ever hear of Leeran religion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeran

[Tim Bruening]

Ax seems to have a spiritual ritual each morning during which he dips his hoof in water.

[Dylan]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Andalites had some big controlling religion...