Realistic Portrayals of Religion

 A group of us were discussing religion, science and science fiction, and Andy Dibble came up with some excellent rules for portrayal of religion, using Ursula LeGuin's The Telling as an example.

I'd also add one weird aspect to religion. It picks up whatever's around it like Silly Putty--sometimes not contradictory necessarily, but sometimes it is. Christmas trees, Ptolmeic solar system, holidays, etc. 

I forget which illustrated coffee table book it was, but Joseph Campbell pointed Hebrew coins where God had the feet of serpents. This would seem to contradict their religion due to the serpent in Eden. Campbell listed one reason for their inclusion as the bronze serpents they had to kiss thanks to Moses, but other interpretations might be possible. Still did the image seem to conflate the two contradictory images? Or was one trodding on the other? A nuanced view is preferable to the uncharitable.

We have names for things in the culture that are supposedly forbidden, but that isn't quite what happened. Some things are clearly verbotten in religions although contextual clues give a nuanced interpretation. Other times they're a verbal tradition, based on an interpretation that's difficult to pin down.

Within any religion, though, there are selective interpretations that suit believers, and sometimes don't suit them, so that they wrestle with passages trying to understand. This isn't not usually good guy vs. bad guy scenario, although it can be an interpretation that suits one's worldview. Perhaps the aforementioned Silly Putty analogy is the desire not to conform to the text, but to unite with those around them.

This may be perhaps too nuanced for a short story to handle well or a cursory examination of a religion. And my placing this here does not constitute approval or disapproval--merely an observation.