Religion and Hypocrisy

Where it surfaces

• The River and the Range

  The narrator's attempt to convert Chowbok, including baptizing him, reveals a superficial and self-serving approach to religion, as he admits his motives include hiding his own sins.

• The Musical Banks

  The Musical Banks serve as an allegory for organized religion, where outward observance and professed belief mask a lack of real faith or practical value.

• XVI: Arowhena

  Erewhonian religion involves idolatry and personified deities, with a gap between professed and actual belief; the narrator debates Arowhena on the nature of justice and hope.

• Ydgrun and the Ydgrunites

  The Erewhonians' professed religion is superficial, while their true worship of Ydgrun is practical and powerful, highlighting the gap between stated beliefs and actual practice.

• XXVI: The Views of an Erewhonian Prophet Concerning the Rights of Animals

  The prophet claims inspiration from an unseen power to justify his doctrines, yet the people secretly evade the laws, highlighting religious hypocrisy.

• The Views of an Erewhonian Prophet Concerning the Rights of Vegetables

  The oracle's response is manipulated by backstairs influence, and the Puritans' eventual acceptance of meat-eating reveals religious hypocrisy.

• Conclusion

  The plan uses religious instruction as a cover for profit, and Chowbok's transformation into a missionary highlights the hypocrisy of evangelization.