For Jason Bock, the question of religion comes down to faith—or the lack thereof, since he doesn't have any. The tenets and teachings of the Catholicism he's grown up with seem completely arbitrary. This leaves Jason wondering why not designate something as arbitrary as a water tower for worship instead then? By the end of the book Jason has come to respect—even envy—those who have faith in something, though he still can't muster up any of his own.
Religion takes a fair amount of heat from Jason's irreverent, take-no-prisoners humor. But Jason isn't the only person navigating faith in godless, and characters in this book cover the whole believer spectrum.
Questions About Religion
- What is the difference between belief in something and faith in something?
- Why does Jason's dad say at the end that Jason has a long, lonely road ahead of him in regards to his atheism?
- Is the Chutengodian schism due to differences in ideology, or a power struggle?
- What is blasphemy, and why does Dan accuse Jason of it?
Chew on This
Shin, a.k.a. Mr. Science, says you can't prove that the water tower isn't God—that you can't prove a negative. And he's right—science can't disprove the existence of any god.
Jason asks how his parents can possibly know that they've been born into the "correct" religion. The discussion at TPO raises the question of whether God is an arbitrary, made-up thing, or a reality. The thing about these questions, though, is that no matter how you answer them, you're basing your response on faith. Believing and disbelieving are both acts of faith.