# Religion and Hypocrisy in Erewhon

> Theme guide for Erewhon by Samuel Butler.

The Musical Banks represent a hollow religious institution where people perform rituals but treat the currency as worthless, critiquing organized religion's disconnect from genuine faith and ethics.

## Where it surfaces

- [The River and the Range](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/chapters/v-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/chapters/xv-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/chapters/xvii-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/chapters/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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/chapters/xxvii-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](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/chapters/xxix-conclusion): The plan uses religious instruction as a cover for profit, and Chowbok's transformation into a missionary highlights the hypocrisy of evangelization.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/themes/religion_and_hypocrisy
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/erewhon_se/themes