Religious Corruption in the Scarlett Letter

However, instead of confessing his sin, Dimmesdale dives deeper into it by lying to the people and cowering behind his religion. As Hester is being judged before the town, it is Dimmesdale who states I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer!" (Hawthorne 26) This shows how corrupt and hypocritical religion causes Dimmesdale to be, because he demands to know the child's father, when it is actually him. He leads everyone to think that he is a holy man of God, when he is in fact the biggest sinner of all. Dimmesdale becomes so wrapped up in a scandal that goes against everything he believes in, but he continues preaching about the wrongs of sin and what will happen if you commit them. Due to this, the people of Boston begin to follow the words of a man who is untrue and full of sin. The Bible even says in (Romans 3:25) For all who have sinned, come short of the glory of God. This passage shows that God does not tolerate sins, and those who commit sin do not reach his glory and therefore will not join him in heaven. The entire town is listening to a man who is destined for hell, and it just shows how their religion only causes hatred and fuels hypocritical lies.
             Religion's evil and hypocrisy is seen too in the townsfolk of Boston, who condemn and judge Hester for her sin instead of forgiving her for her mistakes. Due to Hesters adultery and her scarlet letter, the townsfolk become increasingly judgemental and intolerant towards her. They taunt her and her child and talk behind her back. The people of Boston choose to ridicule and condemn Hester instead of forgiving her because of the lies religion has told them. They cannot see that Hester is a very loving and kind person on the inside. They instead chose only to judge her by the mark on her chest. The narrator in the novel even states that "Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,at her, the child of honorable parents,at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, at her, who had once been innocent, as the figure, the body, the reality of sin.