Religious Appropriation

My parents were devout Protestants. They raised me in the Interdenominational Christian faith. As I grew into a man, I struggled with the strict teachings of my parents. I think I can speak for my brothers; we found my father’s use of religion to discipline us repellent, to say it mildly. However, I have kept my protestant faith, regardless of my father, my religious foundation is protestant. That means my knowledge of Catholicism is something I’ve taken the time to learn as I would research anything. It doesn’t hurt that my wife went to Catholic school. However, I am no expert in the ways and means of the Catholic church at the higher administrative levels. Equally, I have a good working knowledge of Islam since I have put many hours into studying the faith. Although I am not qualified to pretend, I am equal to the Muslim clergy of the various faiths within Islam. I have a working knowledge in which I know the history, the differences between the sects, and I have read the Qur’an as much as needed to write characters who are Muslim. I have also read many perspectives by Muslim scholars of the teachings of the Qur’an and the hadiths that came later.

            The question is, can I create a character who is Muslim if I don’t identify as one? I answer it this way. When an author creates a character, whatever the character believes in is fictional opinion. A great example is Bernard Cornwell’s character Uhtred in the Last Kingdom series. In the novels, Utred is born a Saxon, raised a Catholic but converts to Paganism when captured by the Danes. Uhtred is a character of conflicting beliefs.

Cornwell’s adoptive parents were Christian, a sect known as the Peculiar People, and he states on his website, they were peculiar. Wikipedia suggests he is an atheist. I don’t know if that’s true, but in reading his novels, it's clear he knows a great deal about the medieval Catholics of the time before Great Britain. He also knows a lot about the Pagan religions of the Danes and the Norse.

If he’s an atheist, why should he write about their differing faiths? Well, for the same reason, I write my characters as Muslim, Jewish, and Roman Catholics, even if I'm a Protestant. I study the religions of the places and the times I write about, and I learn their differences and their similarities. In short, I learn what my characters need to know to exist.

            Unlike cultural appropriation where no one chooses how their born, religion is a choice. Often, it’s our parents that first expose us to religion, or not. Yet, unless we find ourselves raised in a cult, we can walk out the doors of a church, mosque, synagogue, or temple any time we want and go our own way. There are exceptions in some parts of the world, but what individuals believe deep in their hearts are their own choice.

Some of my stories involve characters with certain faiths. It’s my choice to learn about those faiths. Like Cornwell, who learned about the Pagan faith of the Vikings, I can learn religious doctrine like anyone who picks up a Holy Bible, a Qur’an, a Torah, or any other book that defines a faith. Therefore, I don’t believe in religious appropriation. Who’s to say in my study of a religion it might not appeal to my own convictions? But that doesn’t matter, because I’m not one of my characters.