P. D. James was the author of the mystery novels featuring Commander Adam Dalgleish. She was an active member of the Church of England, but she described her character Dalgleish as a “respectful agnostic.” He was the son of an Anglican rector, spent considerable time among clergy. He doesn’t have faith himself but is not antagonistic to those who do. In that sense he reminds me of Dorothy L. Sayers’s detective Lord Peter Wimsey. He has good relations with clergy, occasionally is depicted worshiping at church, but as Sayers herself admitted, he isn’t really a believer.

There are detectives in stories who are religious, but as I think about it, all of them are clergy Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael, G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown, William Kienzle’s Father Koestler, and, of course, Harry Kemelman’s Rabbi Small. It’s not impossible to invent a religious non-clergy detective as T.V.’s show “Blue Bloods” demonstrates, but it’s not common.

I wonder why this is? Maybe it’s hard to fit a just-the-facts-ma’am detective into a worldview that accepts the existence of unseen things above. Actually, I think that’s a problem many people other than clergy have. How do I make my everyday life and my religious faith fit together? Can I think scientifically, but still believe in God? Can I sell used cars and still hold values like honesty? It’s a struggle.

One of the hardest things for a Christian is not to believe that God exists, but to live all of life in that belief. How do you personally solve that mystery??

Read Colossians 3:17 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne