Preview of Small Gods Summary:

The central theme of the novel might be expressed as follows: gods need people, and people need gods. This theme comes through most consistently and effectively in the ever-evolving relationship between Brutha and Om.

Brutha is the only genuine believer left to the (formerly) great god Om. Everyone else is too caught up in the machinery of Omnianism to remember the god; some devote their energies to crushing infidels and heretics, while the rest scramble to observe all the ceremonies; they pray, if at all, only to be spared the attentions of the "Quisition." Brutha progresses from unthinking fundamentalism and blind obedience through doubt to a humane, philosophical Omnianism of which he is the reluctant prophet. He never abandons his god, despite unusually concrete reasons for doing so; instead, he rejects his old, bad religion, and helps to make a new one by thinking for himself.

Om, a...