Religion in my Writing

I love writing about all different subjects, especially taboo ones. I love writing activities that, if done in reality, would result in lengthy jail sentences. I write things that fringe groups would devour in heartbeats, that aren't acceptable on many  writing websites.

Out of all the taboos that I write, I realize one that I actually tend to stay far away from.

Religion.

Now, this isn't a post about my personal belief system, or how I don't blaspheme against one divine being while leaving all others fair game. No, this is about the one thing I tend to avoid all together.

I remember when I read 120 Days of Sodom, the pure shock of the blasphemous things uttered by the characters. I had never read blasphemy like that before (except those few blasphemous dudes the Bible mentions), and I was actually a bit uncomfortable. It was as if I felt a higher being reading over my shoulder and I would say inside my brain "You know I don't agree with this" to err on the side of caution.

Religion has only come up really and truly in one of my stories, Defying Destiny. It has a quasi-Christian-ish feel to some parts, and the basic Hell I describe is very Dante inspired. For all I know, the Lucifer in my story could have redecorated to look like the book.

I have another story, that has characters from the Middle East, and I'm toying with the idea of having some of the female characters veiled; not because of religion, but because they're Owned, and their Owner does not want any eyes but his own on them. I'd hate for someone to read that and think I'm making a (no pun intended) veiled nod to Muslim people, because I'm not. If my characters were Muslim, I'd say that outright

Most of my work is freaky and weird, but there is at least one button I don't want to push for people. I'm a firm believer in believe whatever you'd like. Who am I to judge your belief system, or lack of one? Maybe one day I will write something deeper on religion, but I don't see that day happening any time soon.