Contact I finished reading Carl Sagan's novel Contact this evening. One of the themes in the book is knowing versus believing. Ellie, the protagonist, who is an agnostic scientist and Joss who is a preacher have both had life changing events, but neither of them can prove them. Joss had been dead but was resuscitation, after which he had turn to religion. Ellie got to visit aliens in the center of the galaxy. It seems that Sagan was not as much against believing than he was for knowing.

The very last sentence is interesting (especially in the context of the story): "For small creatures such as we the vastness [of the universe] is bearable only through love".  ¶ 11:30 PM