There's a lot going on with OSC's views that I think some people overlook. While I'm not entirely versed on his actions in the past, from what I've seen thus far what most people don't like is how he is so vocal about his views against homosexuality and seemingly right-wing tendencies.
My mother and father are both religious. Not to the point that they go to church every week, use the words God and Jesus often, or even say prayers before every meal. But they both believe in God, and think that in order to be "morally right" you need to have Christianity or a similar religion (but mainly Christianity.) When it comes to homosexuals, they are completely against the legalization of gay marriage. They view marriage as a holy union of two individuals, man and woman, and likely a family to follow.
That said, they are not opposed to homosexuals being able to form a legal contract with each other, some sort of legal union. But they do not want the word "marriage" to be applied, as they view that as entirely religious. I may be wrong as I myself am not religious, but Christianity is not very tolerant of homosexuals.
Assuming I'm right, this all goes back to why OSC is the way he is. He is very devoted to his religion. That said, I do not think his religious views detract from his stories. The main characters in the Ender series (Ender and Bean) are both agnostic, verging perhaps on atheism. **SPOILER** Even the way Children of the Mind concludes runs contrary to religious views, with the whole Auia (spelling?) and the creation of Peter and Valentine, and Ender essentially reincarnating himself as a shell in Peter's form and then transferring his soul to the new host in the hopes of living a productive life without the turmoil he suffered as a child. **ENDSPOILER**
That's the thing with religion. To be religious you are essentially brainwashed to think one way. Either your parents or guardians did this to you at a very early age, or something in your life caused you to resort to following a religion of some sort. I'm not saying that God doesn't exist, or that the events in the Bible never happened, though I am saying that all of them did not happen, most are metaphors and alliterations in the hopes of teaching people morals and values, and nearly everything, including the story of Jesus and how he became a Martyr, are seen in other religions older than the time of Christ. I believe that people who require religion to provide them with a blueprint about how to act are weak and by nature corrupt, as I believe those of us who are truly good know what is right and what is wrong. And the whole thing about Heaven and Hell, if it's to be taken literally, if you are acting good just to get into an eternal paradise, then you are not truly good. You are acting out of greed and fear.
I think OSC is very much a religious man in person, but is able to separate his views (to an extent) in his writing. Thankfully he did this exceedingly well in the Ender series, though in Bean's series religion crept up a lot more than it did with Ender. But if you pay attention to everything Ender says, it's clear Ender (and Bean) are not OSC, or even part OSC, at least when looking at the stuff that angers his fanbase and critics alike. Ender goes as far as to more or less say he views no one and nothing as a God, because there will always be something better than that God. So by definition, there can't be a God. That is most certainly not OSC.
I'll stop there, lol.
Topic: Ender friends? (Read 1002 times)