About religion in writing.

[Reborn_Cat]

Recently, a novel I was reading on another site was dropped due to the reason that due to religion (real not fictional), the author wasn't supposed to write about that novel. In the end I'm kinda miffed about it as the novel actually very good. I just wanted to know other peoples opinion on this.

Edit: The story itself doesn't have anything to do with religion, It's just that the author dropped the book for religious reasons.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Recently, a novel I was reading on another site was dropped due to the reason that due to religion (real not fictional), the author wasn't supposed to write about that novel. In the end I'm kinda miffed about it as the novel actually very good. I just wanted to know other peoples opinion on this.

Name of novel?

Also, due to some people's existence, the sites have the tendency to try to mitigate issue by having the policy of no real-life religion and politics (meaning bastardised are fine), if you can get the author, try have them to post it in SH I guess?

 

[xluferx]

It depends , like most sites do not allow politics and religion stuff in their site like serious stuff about those topics. Some write about it in vague manners or critique it in ways that aren't explicit so people a re fine about it.
But is a different story if you outright write a story that explicitly critizes or openly mock a specific religion

 

[Reborn_Cat]

Name of novel?

Also, due to some people's existence, the sites have the tendency to try to mitigate issue by having the policy of no real-life religion and politics (meaning bastardised are fine), if you can get the author, try have them to post it in SH I guess?

Super pet nursery on webnovel
also the author personally chose not to continue as since he was a muslim he couldn't write about magic and stuff like that so he dropped.

It depends , like most sites do not allow politics and religion stuff in their site like serious stuff about those topics. Some write about it in vague manners or critique it in ways that aren't explicit so people a re fine about it.
But is a different story if you outright write a story that explicitly critizes or openly mock a specific religion

The story itself doesn't have anything to do with religion, It's just that the author dropped the book for religious reasons.

 

[xluferx]

Super pet nursery on webnovel
also the author personally chose not to continue as since he was a muslim he couldn't write about magic and stuff like that so he dropped.

The story itself doesn't have anything to do with religion, It's just that the author dropped the book for religious reasons.

Aaaah that actually explains things a bit, I remember that story dropped it a long time ago tho. But as far as I know mostly from turks that they are kinda respectful and animal lovers, since is in their teachings to care about Allah creations, and I remember that he touched animal abuse topics.
Perhaps something with that he dropped it like he didn't want to force himself to write something that might go against his trachins

 

[CL]

Aaaah that actually explains things a bit, I remember that story dropped it a long time ago tho. But as far as I know mostly from turks that they are kinda respectful and animal lovers, since is in their teachings to care about Allah creations, and I remember that he touched animal abuse topics.
Perhaps something with that he dropped it like he didn't want to force himself to write something that might go against his trachins

That does sound reasonable. The author stopped because they weren't comfortable writing it anymore; a personal excuse, not wholly because of religion.

 

[DubstheDuke]

See now, when people read my own writing they might think that I am an atheist.

This is because within my writing, or rather within my own fictional world, I have made the assumption that no god exists, and I build the world around that concept.

Oddly enough, the reason I have done this is actually because I am religious. Because of my own beliefs, I try to avoid any concept or aspect of god within my writing. This has led to a strange 'what if' scenario where Ive really explored- what would become of morality (good and evil) in a world without god- aka a world where good and evil are objectively subjective.

Point here, as a religious person I dont really like when I see god or gods in stories. I can tolerate it but it kinda makes me cringe when I see it.

 

[TRNRLogan]

Either he's a recent convertee or that ain't the actual reason. Makes no sense to start a series that has magic and then drop it because your religion doesn't allow magic.

 

[NotYourTypicalMan]

Point here, as a religious person I dont really like when I see god or gods in stories. I can tolerate it but it kinda makes me cringe when I see it.

TRU, literally my face when seeing a novel/book that contain REAL LIFE religious story

Don't get me wrong, I love the aspect of religion or god & goddess, that gives something unique vibe and mysterious to your novel. But I fucking hate it when you straight up copy paste real life religion into the novel. Just do like what the Japanese do, create your own religion.

 

[Reborn_Cat]

Either he's a recent convertee or that ain't the actual reason. Makes no sense to start a series that has magic and then drop it because your religion doesn't allow magic.

The story doesn't really call it as magic but as energy and skills so thats why maybe he thought it was safe.

 

[xluferx]

TRU, literally my face when seeing a novel/book that contain REAL LIFE religious story

Don't get me wrong, I love the aspect of religion or god & goddess, that gives something unique vibe and mysterious to your novel. But I fucking hate it when you straight up copy paste real life religion into the novel. Just do like what the Japanese do, create your own religion.

Honestly they don't exactly 'create' their religion most isekai and other fantasy genre have the medieval spanish catholic Christians and their inquisition punishing the evil doers with blame excuses, sometimes they don't even bother to change the hierarchy or design. Like dude the pope is the pope with the golden robes, hats and cane

 

[Daitengu]

Considering many people's young age when writing online, he probably got pressured to drop it by family with religion as the reason.

 

[Laeyioun]

There's actually a RRL story where it was popular, but the author dropped it because he 'found' Christ and wrote it on his farewell chapter.
Many readers were disappointed because they enjoyed it.

If anyone does remember it then I'd appreciate it if you paste the link

 

[Deleted member 5560]

also the author personally chose not to continue as since he was a muslim he couldn't write about magic and stuff like that so he dropped.

Authors can drop their stories for whatever reasons they want or feel like and don't even owe readers and explanation as to why if they don't want to, imo.

As for religion in stories... if it's a real world religion, I think if you're not formerly or currently of that religion, there should be a basic bar of respect. You don't have to overly respectful and terrified of criticising it in any way, but just some kind of basic level. You're not talking about made up people. You're talking about real people and their real beliefs.

If you're a current or former member of that religion, I think you can write about it however you want because you're speaking from a place of personal experience with that culture and space, and criticisms of what you write are criticisms of your lived experiences, which is weird and kind of rude.

As for the invention of religion... it's fine? It's good? It's just another aspect of worldbuilding. As long as it's not just a transparent metaphor for an existing religion, in which case it just feels lazy. There's a lot of generic pantheons in webnovel fiction (usually the typical "gods of the four elements + the good light god and evil darkness god") though so whatever.

Religion is a touchy subject though, whether you're a theist or an atheist. So... bye. I'm outtie this thread now lmaooooo.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Just wait until y'all read the most recent chapter of my story

 

[OvidLemma]

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool agnostic atheist (if there can be such a thing), but I include religion in many of my stories. Coming from an intermittently-Christian family (one side of my family is much more religious than the other side), I often have devoutly and/or vocally Christian characters who espouse their faith, and I never provide either proof or disproof that that faith is true in the story's universe. There's often conflict between my less-religious MCs and their more-religious family members - but, again, I never weigh in on whether any character is correct in their religious opinions. Just like in the real world, all of the evidence is, at best, highly ambiguous.

Then again, in my fantasy stories - such as Orphan Queen Valkyrie, my most recent story - there's often explicit evidence for the fictional religions in the story. In OQV, the protagonist has visions from the gods, has prophetic dreams, and speaks with dead people. Or in my vampire story, Transfusion, the vampire coven worships a demon who turns out to be very real.

I think both of my approaches are fine if you work in literary fiction (the first way) or genre fiction (either of those two ways). However, unless you're explicitly writing, say, Christian fiction, Zoroastrian fiction, or Hindu fiction, it's best to leave out any events that explicitly affirm the reality of that real-world religion. Maybe if you're writing magical realism, but tread carefully. That is to say that, unless you are a member of religion X writing for an audience of religion X (and stating so in your synopsis and/or tags), then you ought not to lay a heavy hand espousing the dogma and metaphysics of that religion.

 

[Deleted member 5560]

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool agnostic atheist (if there can be such a thing)

Okay I know I said I was out but I need to go on a small off-topic rant.

There can only be an agnostic a/theist. There is no such thing as just being "agnostic" because "agnostic" is a modifier, not a noun. To be "agnostic" is to "have knowledge", to be agnostic is to "have ignorance". Conversely, to be a theist could be to believe in god and to be atheist is to disbelieve in god. You can be gnostic theist or gnostic atheist, and you can be agnostic theist or agnostic atheist, or you can be a theist or an atheist, but you cannot just be gnostic/agnostic in the discussion of beliefs.

In writing terms: "gently", for example, is a modifier. You can place a cup down. You can gently place a cup down. But you cannot adverb gently as its own existence. It is a modifier for existing verbs only.

To break down further:
A gnostic theist (Christian) is "someone who believes god is real because they have knowledge ("proof") of His existence", whereas an agnostic theist (Christian) is "someone who has faith in His existence even without evidence".
A gnostic atheist is "someone who knows that god isn't real because they have knowledge/evidence of it" and an agnostic atheist is "someone who does not believe in the existence of god because they lack the knowledge ("evidence") of His existence." And there is an important distinction between the two. One is saying "it is an absolute certainty that god does not exist" and the other is saying "I have not personally been sufficiently convinced that He exists, and so I default to disbelieving". Having conversations with Christians who do not make the distinction is a fucking headache.

A lot of the time when people describe themselves as agnostic, they usually mean spiritual, or open to spirituality. A vague "maybe, who knows" or "there could be a higher power but I don't feel comfortable prescribing to organised religion".

/grumble

OKAY THAT'S ALL I WANTED TO SAY SORRY I DIDN'T ATTEND TWELVE YEARS OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NOT TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST FLUCKET OUT HAVE A NICE NIGHT EVERYONE.

 

[Toomanysorrows]

Honestly, sucks if people stop a novel you're enjoying, but that's their right. Religion is as good a reason as any other for that. And unless there is more information given, I see very little point in speculating about the particulars like "'they converted recently" or "they got pressured." After all, it's not really any of the audience's business. Honestly it's never really the audience's business why someone discontinued what they were writing.

 

[Schwab]

TRU, literally my face when seeing a novel/book that contain REAL LIFE religious story

Don't get me wrong, I love the aspect of religion or god & goddess, that gives something unique vibe and mysterious to your novel. But I fucking hate it when you straight up copy paste real life religion into the novel. Just do like what the Japanese do, create your own religion.

you say Japan creates its own religion but we all know it's just the Catholic church

 

[Schwab]

Okay I know I said I was out but I need to go on a small off-topic rant.

There can only be an agnostic a/theist. There is no such thing as just being "agnostic" because "agnostic" is a modifier, not a noun. To be "agnostic" is to "have knowledge", to be agnostic is to "have ignorance". Conversely, to be a theist could be to believe in god and to be atheist is to disbelieve in god. You can be gnostic theist or gnostic atheist, and you can be agnostic theist or agnostic atheist, or you can be a theist or an atheist, but you cannot just be gnostic/agnostic in the discussion of beliefs.

In writing terms: "gently", for example, is a modifier. You can place a cup down. You can gently place a cup down. But you cannot adverb gently as its own existence. It is a modifier for existing verbs only.

To break down further:
A gnostic theist (Christian) is "someone who believes god is real because they have knowledge ("proof") of His existence", whereas an agnostic theist (Christian) is "someone who has faith in His existence even without evidence".
A gnostic atheist is "someone who knows that god isn't real because they have knowledge/evidence of it" and an agnostic atheist is "someone who does not believe in the existence of god because they lack the knowledge ("evidence") of His existence." And there is an important distinction between the two. One is saying "it is an absolute certainty that god does not exist" and the other is saying "I have not personally been sufficiently convinced that He exists, and so I default to disbelieving". Having conversations with Christians who do not make the distinction is a fucking headache.

A lot of the time when people describe themselves as agnostic, they usually mean spiritual, or open to spirituality. A vague "maybe, who knows" or "there could be a higher power but I don't feel comfortable prescribing to organised religion".

/grumble

OKAY THAT'S ALL I WANTED TO SAY SORRY I DIDN'T ATTEND TWELVE YEARS OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NOT TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST FLUCKET OUT HAVE A NICE NIGHT EVERYONE.

i never knew agnostic was an adjective. thanks for passing on the knowledge. rant approved!