I tried to flesh out the story and I can’t see how to make a nonviolent community make sense without a God of justice. There are wrongs that can be committed that rupture relationships in ways that can’t be repaired without the cross. Detachment from this world only makes sense if there’s a life after. Generosity only makes sense if God provides in abundance. I was trying to build a story about Jedi (or whatever) that don’t use and glorify violence, who submit and serve rather than rebel, without discussing religion. But I don’t see how that’s sensible. We glorify vigilantes and rebels against evil empires because we don’t believe God. Mangione is a hero because Jesus was naive.

So let’s take that and run with it. The first half shows the community in its secular ideal. The turn is where the protagonist decides there is no forgiveness without Christ. The first half of the book is meeting this nonviolent community as if they are the wise heros. They build their ethic on secular grounds – how you play is what you win, overcoming evil like Gandhi or MLK. Not submission to authority (because where could authority come from) but passive resistance. Not merely seeking to live a quiet life, but bringing peace through inciting peace – because there is only change if we make it, and the change I make in the world is the only life I will have after death. Just as scared of death but like the Norse myths pursuing a good death rather than hiding from it in lies.

The turn of the book is when one or more characters reveal the instability of this ethical foundation. Maybe the community succeeds in overthrowing an oppressive government but then has to rule (and it turn’s out all authority requires the use of force). There is no forgiveness without justice. Evil happens because people are bent towards evil, not because the government or bad philosophy bends them.

Incorporate recent Rwandan secular response of forgiveness towards genocide. How can we forgive without the hope of Justice. If we abandon the hope for justice, then without hope we must choose either to impose justice with violence, or “forgiveness”. Is it actually forgiveness without hope or justice. “Forgive” does not just mean forget or set aside. See also the 2025 movie Locked – where Anthony Hopkins seeks revenge against criminal element that killed his daughter – forgiveness for rule breakers means there are no rules – anarchy – community requires justice / violence, and authoritative monopoly on violence.S

Only the spider can repair its own web. – Cambodian proverb