Don't be scared of religion in contemporary Children's fiction by Anne Booth

My mum and dad were economic migrants - Roman Catholic Christian immigrants from the Republic of Ireland in the 1950s. Our faith in God, lived out by saying a daily family Rosary and individual prayers, using relics and holy water,  as well as going to Mass and Benediction and Confession and Stations of the Cross, gave us comfort and meaning and a real sense of our dignity and equality with others. As a child, the church rituals and services we went to were spiritual experiences, but also, for people with a very low income, free cultural experiences of beauty and community, of music and art and poetry,  that we were not locked out of because we were working class and from a council estate. I would often go and pray in an empty church on my own on the way back from school. I found (and still find) this aspect of religion beautiful - the candles burning on the stands, the colours of the altar cloths, the statues, the windows, the words in the prayers - this was an environment I felt inspired by, and grateful for, not excluded. 

I grew up in Britain in the 1970s at a time when in 'ordinary life', as working class economic immigrants, financially poorer than most people, we were often intimidated by middle class professionals, or looked down on or patronised, the Irish being the butt of many jokes in popular culture. Our religious belief gave us dignity, as it does now to many people from many different cultures and backgrounds. In the 1970s we also had the additional complication of being practicing Catholics from a Southern Irish family, at a time when our religion, by many in the media, was specifically linked to ongoing terrorism,  the activities of the IRA. For many in mainstream Britain, in the media and on the street, Irish Catholics were a threat. We experienced this. We see this link with terrorism mostly attached to other religious immigrants now, and I know how it feels to be a religious child, in a religious family, in a religious community, when your precious faith is continually  linked with something bad, and your neighbours look at you with distrust.

Children who regularly practice the faith of a mainstream religion are  part of our readership. Yet too often we see the media depict religious people as linked to extremism or terrorism or harmful authoritarianism, or as silly and gullible or unthinking, and sadly I see the depiction or absence  of religion in modern contemporary children's fiction as mostly reflecting those aspects and not challenging them at all. There are some wonderful, informed, fascinating and positive non-fiction children's books about the different faiths in our nation and the everyday practice of faith, but I am concerned that contemporary Children's fiction is lagging behind and is too nervous (and even prejudiced)  about it. I know of at least two brilliant fantasy  writers who have recently published books presenting recognisable nasty mainstream religious authoritarianism as a force for child protagonists to fight against, which of course is utterly valid, particularly when you think of what  has happened in history and is going on in global politics,  but I don't know of many - if any - recent stories where mainstream religion and religious faith are seen as positive and respected as forces for good, and I think that is just not balanced.

I don't see enough depictions in Children's fiction of religious people as normal - as neighbours and friends, often interesting, non-threatening adults and children whom non-religious adults and  children will knowingly and unknowingly  meet every day in the community, who pray, and who try to express their religious faith in kindness and service, and who are annoying and lovable and full of good and bad points. Many asylum seekers and immigrants come from religious countries, and their faith, be it Christian or Muslim or another,  means a great deal to them, giving them comfort and inspiration and dignity and a link with their culture and community and the stories, but their faith if depicted at all, is too often only seen depicted  in beautiful non-fiction, or collections of folk tales, rather than everyday fiction.

Nervousness about the place of religion in Children's fiction today may be partly because of an understandable reaction to the overwhelmingly Christian, ultra-religiousness of past fictional texts for children in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries, awful  historical abuse by religious individuals and institutions, and  the behaviour now on and offline of aggressive extremists, nationally or in loud pressure groups, who ally themselves with one or another religions to justify intolerance or abuse. However, I think it is time in 2022, to recognise that this nervousness about depicting  religion and religious faith in contemporary publishing  is  not fair to the many  normal religious children who, in 2022, practice a daily faith, that it effectively completely excludes them, and an important aspect of their lives, from positive, normal depiction in fiction, and prevents non-religious children from seeing that religious faith, and practice of faith can be normal and positive too. 

It would be great, in 2022, for modern British fiction writers and publishers to challenge prejudice and to naturally try to include some more normal and fun and positive contemporary child and adult characters, who happen to be practicing, praying, members of mainstream religions, in stories. I'd like publishers to be braver,  and for religion and sincere religious practices, to be seen depicted in more stories in a more low-key way, more fairly, as normal and not scary or threatening or embarrassing.  I would like to see religion treated with knowledge and respect and love, and not only generally depicted as a dramatic and powerful negative influence, linked to terrorism and extremism and bigotry, or effectively removed from all narratives. Why are we effectively letting loud hateful voices  define religion? I think that including more normal, good, characters who happen to be religious, could break down barriers and contribute to real mutual respect between communities,  and it is also right because children who have religious faith deserve to see themselves in books, and children who do not have religious faith deserve to meet characters who do, and learn not to fear them.

 I would love to see more books just having low-key appearances of positive normal religious characters - a kind priest, a friendly imam, a wise rabbi, a child who prays etc in a non-religious themed plot. This would be a change for the better.  How about, for example, a story where the 

hospitality of a gurdwara is the backdrop, or mentioned? 

Noel Streatfeild  had 'The Bell Family', where children were growing up with a dad as a Vicar. How about a modern day equivalent, with a mum as a vicar? 

'Millions' by Frank Cottrell Boyce is as an example of a book (and film) including a lovely depiction of a Christian religious devotion to Saints,  which doesn't stop it being a fun and original and quirky  gorgeous story, but does gently introduce a non-threatening religious theme.

 

Here is a lovely trailer from Frank Cottrell Boyce's 'Millions', one of my favourite ever films (and books!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psq2wwYjOWo