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Godless
by Pete Hautman
Simon and Schuster, 2004. 198 pages.
Religion and teenagers -- a potentially explosive pair of ingredients -- are the main components of Pete Hautman’s provocative new novel Godless. And explosive they are. At a time of life when critical thinking skills are being formed and young people are finding their own identity apart from family, community, and the religious entities in which they were raised, the pressure to conform to the status quo in terms of these very entities can be a source of pain, angst, and rebelliousness. In Godless, Hautman offers a darkly comic portrait of a group of sixteen-year-olds who get caught up in the development of their own religion, disrupting self, family, and community along the way.
Jason Bock is the founder of Chutengodianism, a religion that comes about owing to his frustration with the bland Catholicism of his parents. His father, a “borderline religious fanatic,” signs Jason up for weekly meetings of “Teen Power Outreach, better known as TPO, a weekly brainwashing session for teenagers held every Thursday night in the church basement.” But while on a gastropod-hunting expedition with his friend Shin, the agnostic-going-on-atheist Jason floats the notion that because water is the source of all life, the town water tower might very well be God -- the Ten-Legged One.
This flip idea takes hold of Jason and Shin, and soon they are quietly developing tenets of faith and gathering other followers: Henry Stagg, a dangerous bully; Magda Price, a voluptuous siren and enthusiastic joiner; and the dull Dan Grant, Jason’s “ordinary friend.” With Jason as a feet-on-the-ground founder, Shin begins work on the Chutengodian scriptures, and takes a decidedly more mystical approach to the faith than Jason. Henry’s ideas for enacting the faith are more reckless, and Magda tends to follow the lead of the personality to which she is more drawn at a given time. The Chutengodians thereby approximate the development of early Christianity, with each demonstrating characteristics of various followers of Jesus.
Chutengodianism becomes dangerous when the church members decide to celebrate a sabbath midnight mass atop the Ten-Legged One. When their ritual lands one member in the hospital and others briefly in jail, the Chutengodians must face the consequences of their faith-based actions in a world in which the dominant community sees them as a weird, cultic minority.
Pete Hautman pulls off this challenging story line with strong characters, good humor, and theological smarts. Jason, the narrator, is self-effacing and honest about his doubts, his self-image, and his apparent weirdness in the context of his peers. His infatuation with Magda and his disappointment when her seeming attraction to him dissipates give him a touching and sympathetic quality, as does his honest and exasperated wrestling with the faith of his family. Shin, Chutengodianism’s poet-prophet, comes across as much more than a typical geek, and the bully Henry has depth that provides hope for greater things from him than he is able to deliver. Magda offers a good deal of sex appeal that creates tension among the predominantly male Chutengodians, each of whom strives to make his vision of the faith foremost and needs allies. This small but rich community of believers plays out as a microcosm of religious institutional development.
Godless is an entertaining novel that will perhaps annoy readers whose faith is not plagued by doubt. Those who are feeling the doubts that come with teenage reflection on childhood faith, however, might very well see a way toward greater religious maturity. They will meet characters who are kindred spirits, serious in their struggles, and willing to risk all for the sake of a touch of the divine. Religious educators who yearn for honest discussion with teens should consider Godless as an alternative to the trendy but dogmatic resources that teens just love to hate.
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