What metaphors are used in Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult?

Much of the narrative can be seen as a metaphor for tolerance. There are many instances of tolerance; those who exhibit the trait most are Faith, Mariah, Millie and Father Joseph McReady. Ironically, it's Ian Fletcher who learns the lesson of tolerance. Ian is a self-proclaimed skeptic, who swears by his atheism and sets out to prove that Faith's claims of communing with God are a hoax. The fact that Faith has "resurrected" her grandmother and healed a small boy of AIDS is nothing less than a miracle, but Ian contends that there are ways to fake the events, and that there's absolutely no chance that Faith might be telling the truth.