Okay, so this is something has been bothering me for a long time and I just now got the inspiration to consolidate my thoughts on this. So here we go.
Most of the time in books and other media, religion is either avoided completely or absolutely butchered. And I get it; it's a touchy subject. It's created wars, massacres, prejudice, and so much other shit. But if you're going to write it, DO IT PROPERLY!
The biggest problem when people write a religious character is that it's usually a side character and they get shoved into an archetype and their character design revolves entirely that archetype. So for this rant, I'm gonna list some common tropes that I see and try to identify how to fix it.
Also, for this, I'm going to focus on Christian characters since I'm Christian and I wouldn't know how to tackle specific issues for Muslim, Jewish, or Polytheistic characters. And please note that I too am still learning and growing as a writer, so this isn't professional advice. I'm just putting my ideas out there.
Let's do this.
1. THE BIGOT
This character is usually an older person, parental figure, or mentor. They're super conservative and are the relative that our younger, progressive hero hates talking to at family reunions. Some of their beliefs include thinking that God created women to be nothing more than baby-making machines to be dominated by men and that all gay people are evil. They probably don't like interracial relationships and don't agree with gun control. They also probably hate the Harry Potter series because it has witchcraft in it.
Listen, listen, while I am aware of the fact that these people do exist, let me break something down for you.
NOT ALL CHRISTIANS HATE GAY PEOPLE.
First of all, some Christians ARE gay people. A lot of Christians do become atheists after they figure out that they're gay, but that's not always the case. I mean, one of my best friends is a Methodist and also LGBT+ as fuck. Also, I'm asexual and that apparently goes against God because He wants us to multiply and reproduce, but I still go church and I think God is great.
Second of all, some parents do have human decency. Like, I have enough faith that my dad wouldn't kick me out if I came out as gay even though he wouldn't vote for gay marriage because, at the end of the day, I'm still his child. People need to realize that there are levels of prejudice. My dad may not agree with being transgender, but he would still respect a trans person and use their preferred pronouns.
Obviously, any level of discrimination is bad, but it's like how there's a difference between someone saying "all black people should die" and some idiot using the word nigga when they shouldn't. Obviously, you would use gentler tactics with the person saying nigga (or at least I hope you would).
And if you're gonna write a Christian bigot, at least be diverse with it. For some reason, all of the Christian bigots I see are white. News flash: minorities can be racist too. I have a lot of black friends who say their parents would never let them marry a white person. And as for personal experience, when my black Dad brought my English, white mother home with him, his family grilled her. I mean, they weren't exactly bigoted, but she was different and they probably didn't know how to handle it.
Also, why aren't there more young Christian bigots? I was SUPER homophobic when I was younger because all my information about the LGBT+ community came from my parents. When I had my first lesbian teacher, I looked at her weird for the next week. In middle school, there was this guy who'd repeat the words "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual" to annoy me and I'd cover my ears because it made me uncomfortable. I was an idiot. I still cringe thinking about it.
2. ANTI SCIENCE
Usually, when a Christian character comes into contact with anything scientific, they hate it. This mostly has to do with the fact that God created the heavens and the earth in seven days so therefore evolution couldn't have happened and blah blah blah. And vice versa scientists also use this argument to prove that the Bible is bullshit.
First of all, not all Christians believe that God LITERALLY created the earth in seven days. If the Bible was literal, Adam and Eve would've actually eaten a fruit. And personally, I think if the world's problems were all caused by a fruit, they'd be much easier to solve.
Also, who even knows a day to God is? God could wake up in 3000 B.C and go to bed in 1990 for all we know. He doesn't operate in human constructs. Stop trying to apply our limited logic to God. HE'S GOD.
So yeah. That's why your Christian character can believe in evolution AND the Bible.
Also, there are plenty of Christian scientists. The founder of my church actually studied electrical engineering before he started our movement. Freaking Isaac Newton was a scientist!
I also just realized this is getting close to 1K words and I have to go to bed, so I'm going to make a part two later. Hopefully, this was helpful!
