Cosmic Horror

            H. P. Lovecraft is an American fiction writer that created the philosophy of cosmicism, also referred to as cosmic horror. Religion often places man at the center of the universe both literally and metaphorically. It is a common theme in many religions that man is some sort of extension of God or created in his image. This idea gives us a feeling of importance that the cosmic horror genre challenges. Cosmic horror essentially asks the question “what if the universe was entirely impartial to us?” This is portrayed in Lovecraft’s work in multiple ways, including having aliens arrive at earth only to treat us the way we treat a new species of animal that we discover. It is interesting to see how this sort of interaction would change the way we view religion. If we met a species of alien that was intelligent enough to travel the universe and had also found enough extraterrestrial life that discovering humans was but a small addition, how would our attitudes towards religion change? Many would likely abandon the idea that we were created in Gods image because there would be so many other life forms just as special as us.