I am reading Bloodwork by Michael Connelly. The main character in the book is a former FBI profiler, Terry McCaleb, on medical retirement from the Bureau after a heart transplant. It’s a good book and I’m enjoying it. One of the very minor storylines involves religion– McCaleb becomes involved with the sister of the woman who donated the heart that was transplanted into him. The sister, Graciela, is deeply religious. McCaleb is not; he tells her that the many tragedies and horrible crimes he saw while he was in the Bureau have convinced him that there is no god. It drives a wedge between them, because her faith is important to her and she wants him to accept her faith.
I was very worried about where this was going, because this kind of thing happens again and again in fiction, movies and television. As an atheist it drives me nuts because the assumption that so many people make is that I am an atheist because I have lost my faith or because of some traumatic event or events that turned me away from god. They cannot accept that there is rationality behind my lack of religious beliefs.
The thing is, there are a lot of people who claim to be atheists, but they really aren’t. They have lost their faith because of life events, and should more accurately be called lapsed Christians. They’ve not really thought about what it means to be an atheist. They are hurting. Once they stop hurting, they will probably pick up the faith and move on. I have absolutely no problem with that– I’m not opposed to Christians or Christianity. I just really dislike the implication that the only reason I am NOT a Christian is because I am having a crisis of faith.
To my great relief Michael Connelly ended without having his character having his faith “restored.” At the end of the book, McCaleb tells Graciela that he has faith in HER, and she has to decide whether that is enough. It was a nice distinction on his part- and one that people everywhere, Christian or atheist, make all the time.
