Is Mentioning Religion Taboo in YA Fiction?

Back before juvenile fiction was given the condescending rename 'Young Adult', there was no real taboo on mentioning the existence of religion. It was not allowed to be important to the story, but churches and synagogues were mentioned and characters might even go to them in an offstage sort of way.

But things have changed since then. Juvenile fiction is profoundly influenced by what is going on in schools. When I was in high school, I brought a pocket Bible to school with me every day and even read it in class when a boring class discussion was taking the place of learning-related events. My Bible was never taken away from me and I was never ordered to leave it at home. Why, we even had a Christian club at my high school, though we were forced to change its name to 'The Fellowship Club'.

Now the schoolish attitude toward religion is more of a zero-tolerance policy. And that cannot but affect what juvenile fiction authors write.

The author of the Hunger Games is rumored to be
of the Catholic faith. As she created her alternate world, Panem, certainly mentioning religions or their remnants would have come to mind. But if she had mentioned something of religion--- that religions weren't officially permitted by the Capitol but were tolerated in a low key way, perhaps--- would the Hunger Games books have been declared off limits in schools? If the heroine of the series, Katniss, had been portrayed as participating in a religion and it was significantly important to her--- if she had prayed at key moments--- I think it quite possible the books might have been banned at a few schools, and been discouraged at scores of others--- not purchased for school libraries, at any rate. And that would have limited book sales.

I think also of the Harry Potter series. The author was said to be Anglican. In the book, characters celebrated two Christian holidays--- Christmas and Halloween (All Saints' Eve). Yet there is no mention of even the possibility of any character going to a church (or synagogue, mosque or Hindu temple).

Now, my reading of YA fiction is not extensive. I didn't read teen fiction as a teen, and now that such fiction has a silly new name, its appeal to me has not increased. Only if the YA book in question has an interesting plot which avoids the dismal high school setting am I likely to read. But I would be very surprised if mainstream publishers of YA were OK with mention of religion--- particularly the Christian religion--- when that might hurt sales by getting the book banned from schools.

Now, in taboos regarding human sexuality, breaking taboo is almost a point of honor. Think of how proud TV producers have been at each step in the direction of showing ever more explicit sexuality onscreen. And I have read a 'YA' book in which the main character had a gay male friend who was said to habitually engage in sex activity with 'rough trade'--- thankfully, off stage.

But no one is proud of breaking the anti-religion taboos, at least, not as regards the Christian religion. (I'm sure that a well-written book about a faithful Muslim or Hindu kid would be well received by publishers and schools.)

The problem with the religion taboo is that there are a lot of kids out there who are of the Christian religion, and who are undergoing problems because of it. Most Christian kids spend most of their time in the hostile environment of government schools, where they have to learn to keep their mouths shut about what they think at the same time their atheist peers are being encouraged to express their opinions even when those opinions are hostile towards others.

There are YA writers who identify with this, who might want to write something which touches on this issue at least slightly--- but who don't want to become unpublishable as a result.

What's the writer to do? There are no easy answers. One can write exclusively for Evangelical Christian publishing houses, if you are an Evangelical and you want to write about the themes that are acceptable to such publishing houses. One can stifle one's opinions and write fiction set in imaginary faith-free, God-free worlds. Or you can write what's in your heart and resign yourself to the likelihood that you will have to self-publish or publish through a small press, and have little in the way of sales. Or you could do a little of all three.

In my reading life I've learned to ignore the many authors who feel the need to say something untrue and nasty about the Christian faith to please a certain set of their readers. But when I find an author who is also a Christian (or a person of faith from another religious background), and who skillfully writes the kind of fiction I like, I go back to that author again and again, and I hope always to find more authors like that.  

How does your own perspective on the religion issue affect how you react to the presence or absence of religion in your fiction? Do you think YA fiction should be open to this topic, or not?