Editing H. G. Wells (section)

==Religious views==
Wells's views on God and religion changed over his lifetime. Early in his life, he distanced himself from Christianity, and later from [[theism]]; finally, late in life, he was essentially atheistic. [[Martin Gardner]] summarises this progression:{{blockquote|[The younger Wells]&nbsp;... did not object to using the word "God" provided it did not imply anything resembling human personality. In his middle years Wells went through a phase of defending the concept of a "finite God," similar to the god of such [[process theologian]]s as [[Samuel Alexander]], [[Edgar Brightman]], and [[Charles Hartshorne]]. (He even wrote a book about it called ''[[God the Invisible King]]''.) Later Wells decided he was really an atheist.<ref>Gardner, Martin (1995), Introduction to H.{{nbsp}}G. Wells, ''The Conquest of Time'' [1941]; New York: Dover Books. This introduction was also published in Gardner's book ''From the Wandering Jew to William F. Buckley, Jr: On Science, Literature and Religion'' (2000), Amherst, New York: [[Prometheus Books]], pp 235–238.</ref>}}

In ''God the Invisible King'' (1917), Wells wrote that his idea of God did not draw upon the traditional religions of the world: {{blockquote|This book sets out as forcibly and exactly as possible the religious belief of the writer. [Which] is a profound belief in a personal and intimate God.&nbsp;... Putting the leading idea of this book very roughly, these two antagonistic typical conceptions of God may be best contrasted by speaking of one of them as God-as-Nature or the Creator, and of the other as God-as-Christ or the Redeemer. One is the great Outward God; the other is the Inmost God. The first idea was perhaps developed most highly and completely in the God of Spinoza. It is a conception of God tending to pantheism, to an idea of a comprehensive God as ruling with justice rather than affection, to a conception of aloofness and awestriking worshipfulness. The second idea, which is contradictory to this idea of an absolute God, is the God of the human heart. The writer suggested that the great outline of the theological struggles of that phase of civilisation and world unity which produced Christianity, was a persistent but unsuccessful attempt to get these two different ideas of God into one focus.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=H. G. |author-link=H. G. Wells |title=God the Invisible King |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.37681 |publisher=[[Cassell (publisher)|Cassell]] |location=[[London]] |date=1917 |chapter=Preface |oclc=261326125 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1046/1046-h/1046-h.htm}}</ref>}} Later in the work, he aligns himself with a "renascent or modern religion&nbsp;... neither atheist nor Buddhist nor Mohammedan nor Christian&nbsp;... [that] he has found growing up in himself".<ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=H. G. |author-link=H. G. Wells |date=1917 |title=God the Invisible King |chapter= The cosmogony of modern religion |oclc=261326125 |url= https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1046/1046-h/1046-h.htm }}</ref>

Of [[Christianity]], he said: "it is not now true for me.&nbsp;... Every believing Christian is, I am sure, my spiritual brother&nbsp;... but if systemically I called myself a Christian I feel that to most men I should imply too much and so tell a lie". Of other world religions, he writes: "All these religions are true for me as [[Canterbury Cathedral]] is a true thing and as a Swiss chalet is a true thing. There they are, and they have served a purpose, they have worked. Only they are not true for me to live in them.&nbsp;... They do not work for me".<ref>{{cite book |last=Wells |first=H. G. |author-link=H. G. Wells |title=First & last things; a confession of faith and rules of life |url=https://archive.org/details/firstlastthings0000well/page/77 |date=1908 |publisher=[[Putnam (publisher)|Putnam]] |pages=77–80 |oclc=68958585}}</ref> In ''[[The Fate of Homo Sapiens]]'' (1939), Wells criticised almost all world religions and philosophies, stating "there is no creed, no way of living left in the world at all, that really meets the needs of the time{{nbsp}}.... When we come to look at them coolly and dispassionately, all the main religions, patriotic, moral and customary systems in which human beings are sheltering today, appear to be in a state of jostling and mutually destructive movement, like the houses and palaces and other buildings of some vast, sprawling city overtaken by a landslide."<ref>''[[The Fate of Homo Sapiens]]'', p 291.</ref>

Wells's opposition to organised religion reached a fever pitch in 1943 with publication of his book ''[[Crux Ansata]]'', subtitled "An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church" in which he attacked [[Catholicism]], [[Pope Pius XII]] and called for the bombing of the city of [[Rome]].<ref>{{cite book |title=H. G. Wells a comprehensive bibliography |date=1972 |publisher=[[H. G. Wells Society]] |isbn=0-902291-65-3 |location=Great Britain |page=44}}</ref>