The Church was criticized for a large number of things by the Protestants. One of these was the religious exclusiveness that the Church demonstrated. The Church believed that there is only one true Church, the Roman Catholic Church. This belief turned the word ‘church’ into a proper noun. Another thing that the Church was often criticized for was the lack of separation between Church and State.
Upon attempting to answer a question like this, it is important to consider the definition of the phrase 'morally ambiguous'. Are we judging morality upon the expectations of society? If so, are we considering modern day society or or the much more religious and conservative Victorian society which Bronte experienced? In both cases, however especially the society contemporary to Bronte's time, morality was seen as something black and white, evil and good were entirely mutually exclusive. Evil was a potent force which intended to hurt and destroy, against the expectations of society which were usually based on Christian views.
But the situation was not always like that. Before the Gypsies were discriminated by the Spanish government and people causing them to live in misery. All of these events formed what is now the Gypsies history in Spain. The Gypsies migrated out of India to Europe in the XI century and mainly settled in Zaragoza the capital of Aragon. In 1492 when the Spanish were persecuting the Jews, Moors and ethnic groups other than Catholics out of the Iberian Peninsula the Gypsies were persecuted as well.
Michelangelo’s exposure of the nude bodies in the fresco caused a lot of conflicts. It’s main conflict was because the fresco is in a church and him having those nude bodies in a church of Christianity was considered very vulgar and they accused him of immorality. That fresco is known because of its controversy and all the restorations and changes that have been done to
Luther spoke out against clerical celibacy, papal abuses, salvation by works, and other Catholic doctrines. Luther proves to be the better reformer because of his full commitment to reformation. He did not involve himself with the teachings and rituals of the Catholics, within his writings and words he tore down what he found corrupt. Erasmus on the other hand was a Catholic priest, even though he wanted to reform, there was still a part that did not want to fight the church upfront because of his role. Erasmus tried to find a middle road approach, but this only disappointed scholars from both sides.
Many non-Catholics believe that we as Catholics should not have to confess our sins to a priest, but this is not what Christ wanted. The Sacrament of Penance is good for us and Christ wouldn’t have told His Church to have the sacrament if it wasn’t pertinent for our salvation. This sacrament was instituted by Christ so that we might be granted absolution from our sins after baptism. Although we are confessing our sins to a priest, by no means does that imply that Catholics believe that priests have the power to take away sins. The priests are there so that God can intercede through the priests.
Hardy confronts organized religion because of the lack of compassion toward less remarkable people and places humanism as a more pure notion to live by. Hardy's negative treatment of religion in Tess of the D'Urbervilles stems from his belief that if a higher power exists, it corrupts mankind whereas humanism proves to be the perfect substitute. The injustice of giving an innocent, bastard child an improper burial and abolishing their only chance of salvation after earthly life is Hardy's main comment on how the depraved religious system in phase the second infects a man of repute, causing him to change his morals for the worse. The Vicar finds himself rejecting innocent Tess Durbeyfield's request of giving her child a proper, Christian burial, admitting "I would willingly do so... But I must not," (Hardy 97) indicating how a man of the God and the church was turning away from justice in order to assimilate into an elitist, apathetic society.
I will also be discussing the expelling, torture and killing of non-believer and heretics of religions. Issue #1-Religious inspired violence throughout history is inexcusable. There is no reason for such acts of violence, no matter what “scriptures” say. To execute or torture another because their religious views are not as yours is immoral. It is said in many scriptures in all religions that God will punish non-believers and heretics so why would people take matters into their own hands.
Daniel Dennett (philosopher and cognitive scientist) likens religion to cancer – it grows and is destructive. The late Christopher Hitchens (literary critic and journalist) wrote an entire book denouncing religion titled God is not great: How Religion poisons everything. In it he argues that religion is immoral, man-made and is grounded in nothing more than wish fulfilment. What do all these writers have in common? They are the leading figures of the so-called New Atheist Movement and they want to abolish religion from the face of the earth.
This is best shown in the poem ‘Disabled.’ Owen was ultimately driven by the betrayal of the authorities, religion and society and he used his horrifying experiences of the war to exemplify this betrayal. Owen uses graphic and powerful imagery to capture the horrors of war. He uses this to forcefully change the attitudes society had about war during the early 1900’s. The poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ most strikingly