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George himself was raised catholic, but only considers himself as a "lapsed Catholic", but personally has never believed in any particular religion. This of course may contradict the amount of inspiration he took in order to create these fictional religions, but he has said that he does find religion and spirituality fascinating. However, he cannot bring himself to believe that there is any god or life after death, as much as he or anyone would hope there is. He can not comprehend how people can make decisions based on the belief that an "invisible" guy in the sky told them to do so or if "god" is this all-knowing deity who can control everything, then why does he allow people to suffer and let such tragic things happen on earth. He explains that believing in a religion would be so easy for us all if we actually had visual proof, because in real life we are told of things that happened thousands of years ago, such as Catholics are told to believe stories of men walking on water and people rising from the dead… so why don’t these things happen now? If we were to see this now would there be more followers/believers?

 

Despite his own views, he felt the use of religion in his books (eventually leading to show) was necessary because realistically he understood that generally speaking, religion shapes our societies, our cultures, and our values and that the majority of major conflicts over the course of history has been caused by the difference in religious beliefs. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly), having this much religious influence in a television show is out of the norm. One study conducted in 1990 a sample of 100 episodes on prime-time television to find out the amount of identifiable religious or spiritual affiliation among speaking characters found that only 5.6% portrayed it. Furthermore, those who did was rarely ever a central theme within the main story line of the episode or show itself. Martin says that as a fantasy story teller/writer, religion cannot be ignored because it is too important and felt that it would be better for him to use real life religions to help him shape the fictional religions rather than try to create an entirely fabricated set of new religions because by having inspired events, the story would have more a substance to it and would give that connection to what the world has known at some point in history or current day. 

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I must have to agree with Martin in that despite what views people have - whether they believe in one religion or another or not at all - the world has been based around religion in one way or another. Religion or faith is the reason for basically all things good or bad - from the cause of many wars to the countless 'miracles' that this world has seen. As depicted in the Game of Thrones series, the nonsense that is having hatred and killing those who do not believe in the same "god" is pure stupidity, even though this has happened throughout history time and time again. Religion and spirituality plays such a key role in the lives of so many people, even if they do not notice it. It is more than just going to church, doing what some book or deity says is right, or praying before your meals and bedtime; rather it can be the reason why people believe in love (Lord of Light), or why some people enjoy the simplicity and peacefulness of nature (Old Gods of the Forest). As many of the religions in the show and thus in real life show, many religions though may have some difference aspects to them, also have underlying fundamental beliefs in that they believe in being a good person, helping others, as well as certain family values. Whatever the case may be, religion and spirituality is completely subjective to every individual, but it is absolutely evident that this world would be a completely different place without it - whether that is good or bad will remain a mystery.