Belief, faith, and religion are all a bit intermingled to me. Belief is feeling something is true. Faith is acting on that feeling. Religion codifies beliefs and faiths into rituals and stories to bind a community together. Below are links to help write characters of different spiritual or religious beliefs. Like every other resource guide, this is definitely one I plan on adding to with more research especially since it leaves atheists and agnostics out in the cold, but the links below will at least get you started.

Springhole’s Basic Tips To Write Subcultures & Minority Religions Better

Fuck Yeah Character Development’s Religion Section

Aaron Hartzler’s Diversity 101: Religion in YA (This post comes at the topic entirely from the Christian standpoint.)

Disclaimer: I was raised Baptist, but classify myself as a non-committal believer at this point because I believe that there is something grander and more powerful than us out there and that it may be omniscient– but I don’t know if that something had any hand in creating life on this planet or if it has or wants anything to do with us.

I’m not saying writers who identify with a specific religion or belief system are entitled to tell the stories of another religion. We’re not. But since there are writers who want to add accurate representations of the diversity of faith in the human race to fictional literature, we should at least do our best to understand and create the most realistic portrayal.

I’m not aiming to offend, so if something I wrote is wrong or offensive, please let me know so I can update/edit the post.