How religious can a character be before it alienates the readers?

That depends on your audience.
I doubt a devout Catholic would put off many readers (in the US anyway), but you never know. Personally, I am an agnostic but my family has a lot of believers and I am not put off by a POV character who is religious.

I'm an atheist but I would read about a religious character provided that they were interesting. It's not really an issue. The world is full of people of all different faiths and I don't mind learning about any of them.

On the other hand, I would object if I felt the book was trying to ram religion down my throat, just as I would object if someone tried to force their views about atheism on me.

MrNumbahOne said:

He needs to believe that their is something that is unconditionally caring towards him and wants him to do what is best, for my MC has a psychological condition that makes him extremely estranged from everyone else. In his thoughts, he does talk about God like he is a part of nature, a benevolent ruler of the universe.

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I'm an atheist, and it doesn't bother me if a character is religious as long as there's something more to the character than their religion, i.e. the author doesn't expect me to admire the character solely for that reason. And as long as non-religious people are not dismissed or demonized for their lack of faith.

MrNumbahOne said:

Something I've been wondering for a while. How devout can a main character be before it starts to alienate the audience? This is a question in general, but also does my character cross the line?

For the character I'm working on now, he is a practicing, devout Catholic. He doesn't care about what anyone else believes (his best friend is Jewish). It has little effect on his political views and doesn't exactly broadcast his faith. For him, it's about a personal matter. He needs to believe that their is something that is unconditionally caring towards him and wants him to do what is best, for my MC has a psychological condition that makes him extremely estranged from everyone else. In his thoughts, he does talk about God like he is a part of nature, a benevolent ruler of the universe. It isn't necessarily a Catholic God or even an Abrahamic God, but simply something that is. For those that don't share that belief, is this uncomfortable?

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Not at all.

I think a religious character only becomes obnoxious when he behaves obnoxiously, aggressively, or without mercy toward others because of what he believes. At that point, his religious fervor becomes a club, or even a sharper weapon. But presumably if that happens, it was the author's intent, because that's who the character is, and his behavior will play some role in the story.

MrNumbahOne said:

Something I've been wondering for a while. How devout can a main character be before it starts to alienate the audience? This is a question in general, but also does my character cross the line?

For the character I'm working on now, he is a practicing, devout Catholic. He doesn't care about what anyone else believes (his best friend is Jewish). It has little effect on his political views and doesn't exactly broadcast his faith. For him, it's about a personal matter. He needs to believe that their is something that is unconditionally caring towards him and wants him to do what is best, for my MC has a psychological condition that makes him extremely estranged from everyone else. In his thoughts, he does talk about God like he is a part of nature, a benevolent ruler of the universe. It isn't necessarily a Catholic God or even an Abrahamic God, but simply something that is. For those that don't share that belief, is this uncomfortable?

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IMO...I think if you're going to portray your character as a devout anything then you should be careful about how you're portraying them. Surely there are differences within the faith that your character may align with, but I'd make sure it's accurate, otherwise it won't seem well researched.

That being said, it's perfectly reasonable that a character believes his own findings and revelations of things that might fall outside the realm of conventional religion....but at that point, they can't really be called devout something.

Good luck with your work!

Queen of Swords said:

I'm an atheist, and it doesn't bother me if a character is religious as long as there's something more to the character than their religion, i.e. the author doesn't expect me to admire the character solely for that reason. And as long as non-religious people are not dismissed or demonized for their lack of faith.

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Agree with this, 100 percent.

I bunch of novels have priests as the protagonist. There are far more Christians than there are atheists, so you don't have to worry about the audience. YOu have to worry about portraying a realistic character. An obnoxious character is an obnoxious character, whether he's a devout Christian, an atheist, or anything else.

I would say that if you don't know how to portray a devout Christian without falling back on silly Hollywood stereotypes, learn first, portray later.

Jamesaritchie said:

There are far more Christians than there are atheists, so you don't have to worry about the audience.

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True, but there are more non Catholics than Catholics in the US. Where I'm from (North Carolina, Bible Belt) the notion of Catholicism, or at least certain aspects of it (the Pope's role as head of the church and I don't know what else) are offensive.

Not that you have to worry about offending everybody.

Your safest bet is to focus on those things that are important to the story. If your MC's devout Catholicism is important to the story, then go for it. If not, maybe tone it back a bit.

I think a lot of these religious questions (thinking of the one in ask the agent this week as well, for example) come down to the wrong question: How much religion is acceptable in a book?


That is like asking how much sex, or violence, or even red flannel is acceptable....as much as makes sense for the book and the audience. There are genres (Christian Fiction) where it is expected that there is a heavy dose of religion, and there are books outside that which simply feature a heavy does of religion. Or violence. Or blue flannel. Because it fits the character, or situation, or whatever else...

IMO, you are concerned for naught. EVERYBODY is something, an atheist, an agnostic, non-believer, a Catholic, a Muslim, a devil worshipper, wtf ever. Though I suppose you could make the character unlikeable, you'd probably have to go out of your way to do it. I would only be alienated if the book is preachy. And that wouldn't be the character, it would be the author.

Uh, but now that I think of it, my Catholic friends do not think of God the way your MC does. They have a definitely Catholic POV. Still, I doubt they'd be put off by a Catholic who thinks differently than they do.

Or . . . maybe I didn't understand your question.

You know what? If you write, you going to offend someone. Accept it. Move on.

Jamesaritchie said:

I would say that if you don't know how to portray a devout Christian without falling back on silly Hollywood stereotypes, learn first, portray later.

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I would second that. And add that the same thing goes for any religion, not just Christianity.

I don't think there is a line. I am 100% atheist but I adore sci fi about Jesuits. What is important is that they are a character, not a sermon dressed up as a character.

This is SUCH an individual question. I'm atheist and I would abhor a story with any Christianity in it. I couldn't tolerate it at all. Others, it wouldn't bother them at all...

What bothers me is when the religion is all a character is. I am Christian but I am also a wife, a dog momma, a writer, a rock fan, a nerdy scifi/fantasy fan, a daughter, a secretary, a friend, I like to eat, cook, craft, play video games, go to movies...

If the character is preaching at the reader, then it might not take much to alienate pretty much anyone who doesn't agree with his theology.

On the other hand, if it's part of the character as a whole, and taken into account in their personality, actions and relationships, then it doesn't have to alienate anyone but the most extremely anti-religious.

There are devout religious characters in all kinds of non-religion based books. Michael Carpenter in the Dresden books comes immediately to mind. He's a devout Catholic, and yet I don't know any fan of Harry Dresen that has a problem with Michael.

Disclaimer: I am not Catholic, nor of any Protestant Christian Faith, but I have relatives who are. Both. And more. We're a fairly diverse family.

One of my Dad's favorite detective series featured a Rabbi as "sleuth." Another, a Catholic priest. I've read books from both authors, and enjoyed both, although I was not brought up in either tradition. So, I would say yes, I can read a devout Catholic character and relate.

However, from your original post, I am not certain you understand devout Catholics very well. No offense intended, but your post seems to imply he can only be "good" and "inoffensive," if he doesn't really accept Catholic or Christian doctrine at all. Also, there seems to be an implication that if he accepted an "Abrahamic God," he'd have to be an intolerant bigot?

I think people can be of any faith, or of no religious faith and be bigoted or not. In my experience, they're separate issues.

Many people I've known who seemed sincerely devout (in any religious tradition) were those who might have struggled with this or that aspect of their formal faith, but accepted above all such concepts as "love one another," and lived their faith through helping others. And certainly, I've known members of same faith who would vote quite differently. I mean, really, how does "a Catholic" typically vote?

But sure, as a reader, I can relate to devout Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and so on. I can also relate to Atheists or agnostics. As long as everyone's written as a human individual, it works.

That's a fair point jari k.
The most loving, spiritual, open, man I know was my Catholic grandfather.

on closer read of your OP, the second paragraph doesn't describe a devout Catholic. It could be a person who grew up Catholic and is questioning their faith maybe, not God so much as maybe questioning Catholicism. Seeing God as part of nature is more of a Bahai thing.

For the character I'm working on now, he is a practicing, devout Catholic. He doesn't care about what anyone else believes (his best friend is Jewish). It has little effect on his political views and doesn't exactly broadcast his faith. For him, it's about a personal matter. He needs to believe that their is something that is unconditionally caring towards him and wants him to do what is best, for my MC has a psychological condition that makes him extremely estranged from everyone else. In his thoughts, he does talk about God like he is a part of nature, a benevolent ruler of the universe. It isn't necessarily a Catholic God or even an Abrahamic God, but simply something that is. For those that don't share that belief, is this uncomfortable?

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Also, the Catholic and Jewish best friend thing. I'm not saying don't do it, but it is cliché, and could come across as trite.

I would just not use the word devout.

I think you can do pretty much anything you want to do as long as it's believable.

In my medieval novel I had one character who hid a copy of the Bible for personal reading and sharing and he was burned at the stake for it. A Catholic priest was the one who did the burning. Those two characters were very much of their time - the Bible was on a forbidden list of personal reading material, against which some rebelled, and the Catholic church wasn't in very good moral shape. I simply used those facts to my own advantage with one of my secondary characters.

If you have a character exploring spiritual ideas outside of accepted religious tenets it will probably resonate with a lot of modern readers. Put them in a religiously strict society or time and it can make for some good tension and conflict. It all depends on what you do with it.

I don't think it is a turnoff for most people to be simply religious. The line gets crossed is when you are religious and an a$$. If you have a likable character who chats all day with his/her conception of God, then most people would read his/her thoughts all day long (metaphorically). If anything it gives your character a defining trait to make him/her stick out in the readers' minds.

I don't care what religion a character is, as long as I can't smell the author trying to force-feed me some kind of theological agenda.

This can happen outside of religion as well. Read Herbert's God Emperor Dune (if you can) if you want to see an author taking readers hostage to preach at. Even though it's not necessarily about religion.

Depends on what the book is as to how I will take it. On one hand, I enjoy Amish fiction, which is very religiously fundamental. On the other hand, if I'm reading a mystery or chick lit or contemporary fiction and the main character's actions are driven by religion, I probably won't stick with it.