In Stephen King’s *’Salem’s Lot*, Father Callahan’s weak faith is demonstrated when he is unable to throw his crucifix away during his confrontation with Kurt Barlow.
Callahan uses the crucifix to hold Barlow at bay, but Barlow challenges him to discard it and face the vampire using faith alone. Callahan hesitates because he does not truly believe his faith is strong enough without the physical symbol. That hesitation reveals the weakness Barlow is exploiting.
The scene establishes an important rule in the novel: religious objects are effective largely through the faith of the person using them. The crucifix is not an automatic weapon. Once Callahan’s confidence collapses, its protective power fails, allowing Barlow to overpower him. Barlow then forces Callahan to drink his blood, leaving the priest spiritually “unclean” and unable to enter his church.
A common mix-up is choosing that Callahan cannot keep the crucifix held aloft. He does hold it against Barlow; the decisive failure is that he cannot cast it aside when challenged. The novel’s later treatment of Callahan expands this failure into a lasting crisis of faith.