I guess I don’t have a simple answer to this so for those of you who don’t want to read a big, long explanation, you can skip to the tl;dr at the end.
To start things off, I will say that I am not Christian. I am also not Atheist. I don’t really belong to any major religion and that is for a very good reason. I share a very similar perspective when it comes to both politics and religion and that perspective is this: you shouldn’t ever prescribe to a group that tells you what to think or how to feel about things. These should all be deeply personal beliefs and everyone should strive to find what they feel is right in every individual subject, not just joining the brand that gets closest to what they think (or more often than not, whatever they were born into). In religion especially, you need to forge your own personal connection with god instead of just taking someone else’s interpretation as fact. If you want to convey belief in the bible but you actually haven’t read the thing, studied the thing, and spiritually explored yourself to see if it’s right, you’re a religious poser who’s just following what others tell you. Seriously, don’t feign conviction in religious tenants if you’re too lazy to actually study them.
Believe it or not, I was actually born Mormon. I was raised LDS from birth and I have read the bible twice through, the book of mormon three times and the doctrine and covenants once (mormons have a lot of supplemental material). These were the days when my parents really dictated my religion but by the time I was into my teens, I was already starting to question a lot of the religious propaganda they were feeding me. I say propaganda because they were quick to utilize anecdotal evidence in the face of overwhelming empirical evidence- the calling card of those who use feelings to outweigh facts. This is not limited to the mormon church either. Once free of my parents, I began a spiritual journey. I read through the bible for the second time, read about half the koran and even took a look at Buddhism and the Hare Krishna. None of them really matched me or my beliefs. Not until I met someone who was a practicing Druid.
I’m not a Druid mind you. But they did have the stepping stones that felt right to me to continue my spiritual exploration. The journey isn’t over either. I can’t ever assume I’m right because I simply don’t know everything and spiritual perspectives change for those who are open to it. But to answer the original question, here is where I stand right now: yes, I believe in god, but probably not in the way that most people do. I don’t see him as a benevolent being in the sky who grants us things if we appease him by being good. I see god as the spiritual connection of all things. So I wouldn’t ever say that god has a plan or intent. God just is and flows with everything as it happens and each of us are just a part of the ebbing sea. When bad things happen, it’s not because he wants to punish us or teach us. It’s because sometimes, bad things just HAPPEN and the greatest thing we can learn is how to deal with bad circumstances and move on. That’s just life! Trying to prevent bad things by asking a magic overseer just hinders our growth in being able to accept, adapt and carry on. We should all strive to be better because when we are better, everything is better and god is better and when we die, our actions, the impressions we left and the people we touched will live on in god long after our physical forms have blown away. That is, more or less, what I believe in short form.
As for my characters, Christianity doesn’t exist in their world. There is religion, yes, but it takes a different form. Featuring most prominently in the story are the Purists and Neo Purists who are two very opposite sides of the same coin. Jane and Grape are Neo Purists while Ri is a Wiccan. Linda didn’t grow up in a religious home, Leo grew up Purist but doesn’t really believe it, and Seraph is accidentally the leader of a political and spiritual movement called Existianism. The other characters are either not religious or it’s a very small part of their character.
TL;DR: TB is pagan and most of the characters are either religions invented for this story or Ri who is Wiccan.
