How to write a sincerely religious protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?

Show his religious practices more and his explicit beliefs less. What does a devout Catholic do? Probably he doesn't spend all day talking about his beliefs; instead he lives them. He tithes. He fasts on Fridays. He attends mass daily before going to work (or wherever he spends his days). He teaches in Sunday school. He studies self-defense but it's the "passive redirection" styles, not the "active beat-up-your-opponent" styles. He says grace before eating. He tries to avoid swearing and never says "oh my God" in response to something trivial. He prioritizes Sunday mass over the big game on TV.

Missionaries and evangelists preach, sometimes to anybody who doesn't say "no" forcefully enough, but you're not writing that kind of character so you have to be more careful in what words you put in his mouth. He can talk about his beliefs, but he shouldn't break character in doing so.

I'm far from an expert on Catholicism, but the Catholics I know are not generally pushy when it comes to religion -- but if you ask them questions at least the more learned are happy to answer. Depending on the needs of your plot and character ensemble, you might be able to get some of that by having an outsider character. I've read Christian-themed fantasy fiction that uses outsider characters (someone from a neighboring realm, elf, etc) to provide those conversational prompts. Use it sparingly since that's not your primary purpose in writing, and you should be fine.

(As an example where the religious discourse is a primary function, see -- with a different religion -- Conversations with Rabbi Small, where most of the book involves a vacationing rabbi answering questions from a very curious non-Jew. The book is about the conversation more and the vacationing characters less; this is not what it sounds like you're doing.)

posted over 5 years ago

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Monica Cellio‭ staff

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I think that having him struggle to reconcile his religion with his life experience, as you said, will really help with the issues you are concerned about. It humanizes the religious character and shows that they aren't so judgmental and steadfast as other books and movies would have the public believe. A huge part of religion is an endless struggle. I think your character will be relatable to both religious and nonreligious readers for this reason.

I think it is worthwhile to spend time showing his inner (or outer) deliberations about his religion and times of doubt for him. Maybe he could even leave the religion for a bit. Just remember to keep it sincere—there are far too many Christian movies where a character "leaves the religion" but there's no real impact to it because the movie is so preachy. But as long as you keep the religion restricted to that character and out of the rest of the book, you should have no trouble with this.

This book sounds really cool and I'd love to read it. I'm especially curious how this character will reconcile his religious beliefs with magic. I also like writing supernatural stories with religious elements, but fitting both together is nearly impossible as you have mentioned in your post.

posted over 5 years ago

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ribs2spare‭

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Save the cat

All the standard tricks will still work. Readers can like the protagonist through some simple actions that show he he is a kind person. Allow him to help someone in need, show a kind heart, concern for suffering, and consideration for those who would go unnoticed.

Make him relatable

Allow him to have (human) flaws, family, and friends. Give him petty career politics, and workplace drama that embeds him in real life. Give him money worries, and keep him rooted in mundane life (even as he has adventures and finds the paranormal).

Make him scholarly, but curious

"Bad" religion is controlling, narrow-minded, and authoritarian. "Good" religion is personal, welcoming, and nonjudgemental. Theology is the study of many different religions, so if he is well-read he will have influences from Greek and Latin philosophers, as well as religious teachings from other faiths. When he travels, make himn genuinely curious to see and learn. Give him a strong sense of wonder.

Evangelist Missionaries are going to be hard to defend in the 21st Century

A present-day missionary is going to face a lot of cultural criticism. The recent death of a missionary attempting to convert the remote Sentinelese tribe was unanimously cheered in my social feed. I don't have any suggestion to get around this other than to set your story in the past, maybe you can give him a sense of charming naiveté. Watch out for colonialism and racist exoticism (almost unavoidable in this context?).

Don't make him arrogant to spread gospel, instead he tries to set an example and internalizes lessons trying to grow in his own understanding of faith. He's on a journey, not a mission.

Good, whatever the doctrine

Make his religious presence "felt" by others. He says a few kind words, not high mass, but his conviction is palpable. He is devout, and even the witches (and exotic whatnots) acknowledge the legitimacy of his faith – whatever that means in this context.

There is obviously some cognitive dissonance in the Catholic teachings that you will have to downplay, lampshade, or avoid. A lot of that will come down to the tone of the story, and the plot-things you need him to do.

posted over 5 years ago

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wetcircuit‭

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What should I include or avoid in my story to ensure that the reader can empathize with this protagonist but not feel that I am either evangelizing or sending anti-religious messages?

Treat the character fairly, and present the character's views as-is.

If religion is not he point of the story, then simply write a character that is motivated by the precepts of his faith. I can't see clearly from your OP if the character himself is judgemental or preachy. If the character is not intended to be preachy, then this isn't really an issue at all. Simply present the character as a devout Catholic at the time would be.

To some modern readers the tenets of the church would be unappealing. But, keep in mind that the base of your readers might be broader than you seem to think. There are many people in the world who are Catholic (like, a billion of them) and would view a faithful Catholic positively.

Alas, I was not born in Victorian England, so I can't tell you what the church emphasized at that point. But the generic, timeless homily subjects include

• regular attendance at mass and confession
• faithfully giving to the poor and to charity,
• prayers for the pope and for national leaders and other local concerns, and
• encouragement to witness Christ in your daily life.

In the late 1800s, the Catholic church was not very strong in England. Catholics had only relatively recently been allowed to own land and participate in politics, and as such were something of a persecuted minority; although by 1850 and later liberalism had dispersed much of the previous prejudice. Catholicism would have been more strongly associated with the Irish; an unpleasant association at the time, to be sure.

posted over 5 years ago

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kingledion‭

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Just note that there is an underlying value judgement that inevitably biases your view on the matter.

Compare the following:

"How to write a sincerely religious protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?"

"How to write a sincerely altruistic and philanthropic protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?"

"How to write a sincere neonazi protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?"

"How to write a sincerely communist protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?"

"How to write a sincerely capitalist protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?"

"How to write a sincerely paedophiliac protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?"

"How to write a sincere robin-hood protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?"

"How to write a sincerely superstitious protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?"

So, for instance, I understand religion to be a particularly virulent (and popular) form of superstition, so I read the first and last of the above examples as basically identical. But if you are religiously devout, you probably read them very differently.

posted about 5 years ago

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sesquipedalias‭

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Avoid the imputation of naiveté.

In the real world, of course, all most all people hold their beliefs reflexively and naively. Most atheists have not thought through or are even aware of the epistemological and ontological difficulties of their position. The same is true of most Catholics, Jew, Hindus, etc. Thinking through the philosophical difficulties of your faith is rare and difficult. Most people are naive about what they believe.

But when you present any belief system in fiction (as opposed to sticking to events and emotions, as much of fiction does) you inevitably assume a non-naive posture. Your position may in fact be very naive, but your posture, in choosing to treat the matter at all, is one of non-naiveté. You are implicitly claiming (as you claim when you treat anything in fiction) that you are not naive about it.

Implicitly, therefore, you will treat your own faith as non-naive, and the faith of others as naive. If you simply present all the characters of your own world view as non-naive and other characters as naive, you will have produced a devotional or confessional work.

Devotiotional and confessional works exist for every faith, including agnosticism and atheism.

However, it is possible, in life as in fiction, for a person to recognize the philosophical difficulties with their faith and choose to believe it anyway. Their faith then becomes non-naive.

The agnostic position is that the universe is ultimately too mysterious for our limited capacity for understanding. The agnostic therefore refuses to take a position. The naive believer (Catholic or atheist alike) accepts the faith they were brought up with or the faith of their peers without awareness of the philosophical difficulties it presents. A non-naive believer acknowledges the same difficulties as the agnostic, but choose to believe anyway. (And note that there is also naive agnosticism which lazilly refuses to even think through the problem. For them, saying they are agnostic is a means to avoid the argument.)

A good example of establishing the non-naive faith of a character can be found in Brideshead Revisited in which the naively agnostic narrator Charles Ryder questions his dissolute Catholic friend Sebastian Flyte about how he can believe "all this nonsense". Sebastian replies (quoting from memory) "Is it nonsense though? I rather wish it were."

Sebastian's faith is non-naive. He knows there are difficulties. He knows he does not live up to its standards. He knows that many of his co-religionists don't live up to its standards either. He chooses to believe anyway.

Of course, to pull this off, you can't hold your own faith naively either. You have to acknowledge that, whatever your own views, there are philosophical difficulties with them as well. If you hold that position, you can be sympathetic with people who, faced with the same final uncertainty that we all should face (but that most turn their backs on) made a choice different from yours. Then you are no longer looking down on them, you are looking them in the eye. You may be looking at them across an abyss of differing faith, but you are looking them in the eye and acknowledging the intellectual honesty and sophistication with which they have come to a conclusion different from your own.

This does not mean, of course, that you can't also portray naive characters of the faith in question, or of many faiths. But if you also portray non-naive characters of the same faith, it becomes clear that it is the way that the other characters hold their faith, rather than the faith they hold, that is naive.

posted about 5 years ago

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Mark Baker‭

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