Mal lay on his bunk, twisting the cross around in his hands. Taken it off a week after the surrender, moments after shooting one of his own men. The boy was dying, and when rescue didn't show there was only one mercy Mal could show him. When shooting a man in the head became an act of caring, the world was turned too far upside down to be able to see any god. He'd spent a week praying with all his heart for help that never came. He didn't want to believe in a God capable of turning his back on such suffering, and it had just been easier to decide He didn't exist.
-- The Losing Side, Chapter 54 by jetflair