I've been pondering this for a while. Now, I'm not so worried about losing readers than affecting the quality of my writing. Preaching too much instead of telling the actual story. Here's an example:
Mom proceeded by reading a passage from the Bible. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up... I wasn’t familiar with the passage. Mainly because I wasn’t a Christian like my mom (she wasn’t the conventional type, however; yes, she prayed at night and went to church every Sunday, but also lit an incense for Buddha now and then).
For my part I didn’t mind her belief. In fact, I was glad she had found it. With my father dead, she really needed something to hold onto. Still, I couldn't help noticing the conflict: if Christianity was truth, then her parents, her grandparents, her great-grandparents, and pretty much all our ancestors were burning in hell right now. Because they didn’t believe in Christ. He wasn’t popular at the time.
Both the mother and the protagonist are Chinese. That's why the protagonist is saying her ancestors are burning in hell. Because Christianity wasn't popular in that part of Asia at the time (this theory is debatable, but I don't want to go off-topic).
As you might have guessed I'm an atheist. Not the 'aggressive' kind, though (one of my best friends is a Christian). But I can't help dropping these atheist 'bombs' now and then in my writing. I'm not sure why. I guess my intention is to make my readers question their beliefs.
Do I risk scaring readers way by doing this? Does it affect the quality of my writing?
Answer
You need to ask yourself why you add these references in the first place.
Are they relevant to the development of your characters or the plot of your story? When not, you should sacrifice them to the law of conservation of detail. There is little point in wasting your readers time with indulging in your personal pet-issue when it doesn't lead anywhere.
On the other hand, when the reason you are writing the story is because you want the reader to question their believes, you should go all the way and make the question of religion vs. atheism a central theme of your story. You can do this by making the religious views of your characters an important aspect of their character development and make it the motivation behind plot-affecting decisions your characters make.
But be aware that this will make your story controversial, no matter which side you pick (and even when you try your best to not pick a side). This isn't necessarily bad: Controversial stories are the stories people talk about, and when people talk about them, people want to read them. However, be prepared for very harsh reviews and negative feedback by those who don't agree with your point of view (or what they interpret as your point of view). They will not just attack your point, they will attack your whole work and they might even attack you personally. When you can't take that heat, stay away from controversial issues.
Also, when you want to make your religious views a theme of a story, be aware of part 25 of the Mary Sue Litmus Test:
Does your character voice political, social, and/or religious opinions or beliefs which you share? (There is nothing inherently wrong with a character sharing some of your views, of course. Problems come in when it becomes clear that your character exists primarily or solely to make it clear how superior your views on everything are)
Does xe convince others that xir way of thinking is right?
Is spreading these views one of your character's biggest motivations, or even xir sole motivation?
If religious, does your character explicitly have divine support or assistance in gaining converts and/or confronting nonbelievers?
Do characters who disagree with your character's views/beliefs simply do so out of spite, stubbornness, and/or ignorance?
Does anyone who doesn't adopt your character's ideals by the end of the story end up beaten up, humiliated, miserable, and/or dead?
All these are signs of dangerous mary-sue-ness. You can counter them by:
- Having your character seriously question and maybe even change their believes over the course of the story
- Also having sympathetic characters with different views (your Christian friend might serve an inspiration for such a character) and unsympathetic characters sharing your view
- Have a character representing your viewpoint lose an argument about religion once in a while (remember: just because you can counter any pro-religion argument doesn't mean your character can)
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