Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)

by Iain M. Banks

struck by the beauty of the great Orbital, expressed the belief that even though it was a work of base creatures, no better than humans, it was still a triumphant testimony to the power of God, as God had made Man, and all other souled creatures. Horza had disagreed, genuinely annoyed that the woman could use even something so obviously a testament to the power of intelligence and hard work as an argument for her own system of irrational belief.

The fat prophet’s cruel faith was little different from a million others; only the degree of its barbarity made it unusual in these supposedly civilized times.

some half-unraveled tapes and spools