If you read my post, you might notice I carefully chose my words to indicate that the Frank Peretti embellishments were my own addition and not part of the story. The point of my take on this story is to debunk the popular evangelical notion that spiritual warfare happens in the enclave of bindings demons by prescribed incantations. Spiritual Warfare happens in ordinary happenings where the participants are often unaware that they wield swords into battle. "The heavens suffer violence," Jesus warns us, "and the violent take it by force." The reason I'm a fan of Peretti's works is because he accurately describes the spectacular invisible clash that happens concurrently with our 3rd dimension battle between good and evil.

In regard to Atticus Finch, I believe along with Scripture that belief is best expressed by one's works. Not everyone who believes do so in a "glory hallelujah" way. Atticus demonstrates his belief by his devotion to goodness and truth and his passionate advocacy for the same. It's a mistake to characterize one's state of heart by evangelical fervor because such can be expressed in a mawkish manner, a mask hiding an unregenerate heart. I rather go by the proverb Jesus gave that "a tree is known by its fruit." Atticus weathered the barbs of unpopularity and took a stand against the predominant sentiment. Courage is the mark of the godly and conversely we are assured that the cowardly are consigned to hell (Rev 21:8). It's easy today to take a stand against racism, but try doing it in a day when there was a real cost to standing for the truth.

The same dynamic applies to Scout, the small girl who held the mightiest sword in this standoff. It was her simple, sweet, goodness of heart that put her in a unique position to build a bridge to the posse and turn the tide in their own private struggle between good and evil. Again, I think the mistake is taking comments about the mental assent to sermons preached as a sure indicator of the condition of her heart. One sure personality trait that surfaced in Scout's battle with her teacher regarding reading methods that conflicted with how she was taught by her father is that she needs to understand things in her own way before embracing them. It's not a rejection of the gospel, but rather a childish misunderstanding of it that we are seeing. Her other actions indicate that she has already embraced it far beneath the surface of intellectual attainment.

But the speculation on whether or not Atticus, Jeremy, or Jean-Louis were believers is a rabbit trail that distracts from the intent of my OP. Jem stands by his father, fearing the terror of the mob, but determined not to let his father face it alone. Scout sees an opportunity to make a friend based on her relationship with Mr. Cunningham's boy and uses it. When Jesus made reference to children as "such is the kingdom of heaven" perhaps this is what He was talking about. It's an amazing dynamic of the spirit realm that all the might of the enemy could not hold sway against the innocence of a little child. The point of my OP is that this is spiritual warfare at its best.

Liberalism -- Ideas so good, they have to be mandated.