Mary Ann Evans, who went by the pen name George Eliot, underwent a spiritual transformation in her own life that is reflected to some extent in her works. Although she was a devout Christian in her early life, as she grew up, she began taking a more critical look at religion. Much of this change of view occurred as she translated philosophical works like those of Baruch Spinoza, David Strauss, and Ludwig Feuerbach.

Eliot sometimes took a satirical approach to organized religion. Indeed, some of her earlier works, such as Adam Bede, praise religion's moral standards while simultaneously satirizing its conventions.

Although she came to question and eventually reject the existence of God, calling God's existence "inconceivable," Eliot still saw the importance of religious expression. Eliot considered religion to be a positive outlet for human desires. It is a focus of morality even if it is not morality's source. In this sense, Eliot's agnosticism is not hostile to religion, although it does reject the notion of blind faith. In a letter to Sara Hennel, Eliot wrote:

The test of a higher religion might be, that it should enable the believer to do without the consolations that his egoism would demand.

As an author, Eliot extends this outlook to many of her characters. At times they fall short of moral goodness. Yet, Eliot does not criticize them for violating any sort of religious doctrine. Rather, she places their actions in the context of what it means to do right by one's own principles as well as by society at large. Her characters struggle with this, since her novels deal with themes of being humans in a world we cannot fully control or understand. Yet, people cannot wait for God or some metaphysical force to save them. As she puts it in chapter 14 of Silas Marner:

In the old days there were angels who came and took men by the hand and led them away from the city of destruction. We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be a little child’s.

This is well illustrated when Silas finally finds his salvation. It does not come from God or any supernatural force. Instead, Silas finds hope in a world he thought was not worthy of hope from Eppie. It is she who shows him that love comes not from some metaphysical or divine source, but from the people around us.