Originally posted by alcyone:
At the same time, just involving the religion gets into difficult territory, because those who follow it might just find the story inadequately representative of their beliefs.
It also brings up the opposite - when readers (particularly those who don't follow that religion) feel the fiction is written entirely or mostly in order to promote that religion, show it as "right" and good and the one true way. And sometimes fiction is.
I have no problem with the Catholic church (or any other, but it's usually Catholic in American movies because it's big, powerful, old,
structured, and at least vaguely familiar to most viewers/readers) portrayed with evil and corrupted higher-ups trying to keep the truth from getting out. Seen it in some entertaining movies. Also have no problem with the movies I've seen where it's the one true way and people are led to it by saintly/angelic figures. But I'm not Catholic, and that makes a difference. (For the record, I'm fine with evil US government behind conspiracies, too - or any powerful entity depicted as evil, really). For me, fiction is fiction, and, as long as it's not too preachy (ie, detracts from my enjoyment by telling me I have to be like "X"), I'm good. Others, particularly religious (or particularly atheist) people, feel quite differently about religion in fiction. You just have to prepared for the wide range of possible responses you'll get. Though you have to be careful, I definitely shy away from saying "don't offend anyone" - no matter what you write about, you're likely to offend
someone, so you can't let that stop you. I guess, if you have a realistic setting, then the key is in being accurate. Respectful is good too, but accurate is probably the most important, IMO. If you have a fantastical setting that already isn't really accurate to the real world, then you have more leeway.
