What about "Heaven?"

I've always been taught not to harp on God and Jesus and religious stuff like that while writing, but I'm curious what y'all think of this. I'm writing a story on a high school baseball player whose father died before the season began. The final quote probably is going to be his pastor, who the kid lives with now, saying the kid gets a lot of his strength from knowing his dad is in Heaven. That said, does anyone have a problem the inclusion of Heaven in my lede? If you do, any other suggestions?

If Johnny Curveball ever could count on one thing before a baseball game, it was his father’s lessons from the stands.
“He would always yell ‘Follow through’ after every pitch,” Curveball said. “There was not a game I was pitching that he didn’t yell that. I still hear it.”
Except his father's voice doesn’t come from the stands anymore. It comes from Heaven.

 

As I've made clear on here, I'm a man of faith.
However, I almost always shy away from religion in my stories unless there is a damn good reason for it.
In this case, I'd say you have that reason. If the kid believes his father is in Heaven, I have no problem with that.
I might phrase it more like, "Except now he doesn't hear his father's voice in the stands. Now he believes it comes down from Heaven."

 

As someone who is non-religious, I have no problem with this. If it's what the kid thinks, then its prefectly ok.

And I prefer your phrasing, since it fits in with the end of the sentence before the quote.

 

Had this recently.

I'm not a man of faith, of any kind. But, I hold no ill will to anyone of any faith. To each his own as long as you're a good person.

Anyway, did a story on a kid who missed two full seasons with injuries but accredited his return to "finding God."

You just write the story making sure your readers know the subject believes in God or Heaven; and write in a way that does not editorialize it into stating that God or Heaven are fact.

 

I don't have a problem journalistically, but I think it would be more effective if you don't put heaven there. Set it up so the kid still hears his father's voice when he is on the mound but then say his father is deceased.

Much more dramatic.

You can put heaven in at the end to tie it all together.

 

I don't think it's capitalized, though. It's lowercase throughout my revised KJV Bible.

 

I have no problem with it, but I'm not the sports writing authority on heaven... he is...

 

I would like to read a story in which a high school kid says his fastball improved after he went to the crossroads and made a deal with Satan.

 

Miroslav Satan?

 

I could make one up. Can it run in your paper say, Saturday?

 

I think Satan requires you to sign a waiver agreeing not to tell. Or so I have heard.

 

In a gesture of loyal and affectionate dissent, I'll offer this: I think it's fine when a subject, in a quote or reported dialogue, states that a voice comes from heaven. It makes me mighty uncomfortable when the writer does it. Even, in this case, when you're going to corroborate the assertion at the end of the piece with a quote.

I'd look for a creative way to mention "the voice" at the top. Save "from heaven" for the last line of the piece. You'll get more emotional bounce from it that way in any case.