Religion in Rabbit Run

Religion, like many other things for Rabbit, seems to be a matter of convenience. He is no devout Christian, despite his close relationship with Eccles, and seems to view the spectacle of religion with a sense of satisfaction, but avoids any real spiritual exploration. Rabbit’s view of God fluctuates between atheism and Christianity, sometimes believing “there is no God” (170) while other times fervently praying for guidance, “help me, Christ. Forgive me. Take me down the way” (78). Early in his departure from his family, Rabbit is appalled at Ruth’s atheism, that she “don’t believe in anything” (79). She has seen the hypocrisy in many Christians, referring to a customer who had woken her up early in the morning “because he had to teach Sunday school at nine-thirty” (79).
Rabbit, on the other hand, does not think that far into the constructs of the church, but remains on the surface level of the spectacle of religion, pleased and reassured “by the thought of these people having the bold idea of leaving their homes to come here and pray” (78). The performance part of religion is what most deeply affects Rabbit, the visual “beauty of belief” (202) that he relishes in when he attends church after the birth of his daughter. He “has no taste for the dark, tangled, visceral aspect of Christianity, the going through quality of it, the passage into death and suffering that redeems and inverts these things…” (203). Rabbit is not interested in the rules and consequences and constraints that come with religion, only the grace and forgiveness. As in many aspects of his life, Rabbit wants to have his proverbial cake, and eat it too.
After the death of his daughter, though, Rabbit seems to consider more deeply the nature and power of God, in a more real context. The realization that an all-powerful, all-loving Christian God could have intervened and saved his daughter from drowning, “yet in all His strength…did nothing” (237), is a difficult thing for Rabbit to reconcile. With the death of Rebecca, Rabbit effectively loses his religion (or whatever he had of it). He tries praying “to relax him but it doesn’t do it…there’s no connection” (238). Rabbit’s belief in God and Christianity had stemmed from his detached enjoyment he felt in the pleasant pageantry of church services and religious social gatherings, but lacked real faith and conviction. When faced with a true theological crisis, Rabbit’s façade of religious belief crumbles into anger toward “a terrible God” (256).