It should be impossible for any thinking person to not see this episode as a religious metaphor. In the episode, the boy, Billy, can read minds, create and destroy anything and has supernatural powers of truly biblical proportions. In essence, this angry, jealous, paranoid child has the power of life and death over the inhabitants. And he can read their minds. If they even think bad thoughts about him he wishes them away.
They prattle on in both word and thought how much they love this “monster” of a child. To do anything or even think anything that does not please the child is punishable by death.
The child is a god who can kill just like Jehovah, an angry, jealous God, who drowned millions, destroyed cities and ordered the butchering of women and children. Yes, it’s all there in black and white, though most choose to ignore it as if it was not there. Just like the God they invented.
Like robots the inhabitants of this town repeat how much they love Billy and what a good boy he is. It sounded just like the millions who praise God. After all, if they do not love God with all their heart, and even in the New Testament, if they do not love Jesus more than their family, they cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven. They will be thrown into a pit of fire for all eternity. And to think that everyone can make this choice freely. Love or be destroyed and suffer for all eternity. Certainly sounds like a free choice. Who could not love such a Being?
And of course my answer will always be the reason that so many believe in this all-powerful, thought reading deity that wants us to love him under penalty of eternal torture is: The 12 Unthinkable Horrors of Human Existence. It is all there. The memes, the neurology of the mind, and millions years of evolution.
Not sure what Rod Serling thought; I think he was a believer so maybe the metaphor was subconscious or even unintentional. But it is unmistakable. The episode is available in Season 3 of the original Twilight Zone series under Amazon Prime. It may also be available on Hulu Plus.
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