Doctor Who Series 11: 10 Huge Questions After It Takes You Away
2. No Place For God In Our Universe?
Doctor Who is no stranger to tackling theological issues, but this was one of the most extreme examples. The legend of the Solitract effectively banishes a divine entity from our universe in a reversal of Genesis and other creation myths. The building bricks of the universe, seen by creationists as being knitted together by an all-powerful god who creates order out of chaos, cannot be pieced together all the while such a being exists.
How the universe was made is one of the principle topics of theologians of all faiths and none, and there are all manner of opinions as to where god sits in relation to the universe, from a transcendent god to one who effectively became the universe. The mirror universe is modelled on one particular way of seeing the divine – a god who is lonely, even bored, and who cannot exist without shape or form. In such a worldview human freedom is a myth, and Erik’s wife and Grace are tragic examples of puppets who believe they are free.
This isn’t to say that the episode adopts an atheistic belief system, for unlike the Gallifreyan myth of the Toclafane, the Solitract turns out to be true. All we know is that this particular god cannot exist in our universe.