Religion: Fear, Hypocrisy Good and Evil.
Is there really a God? Most people question it at some point in their lives. Religion is all in belief; there are no facts or evidence, only faith. This faith in something non-substantial is created out of fear of the unknown. Religion, which supposedly is about God's great love for his creations, is in fact created out of anxiety. Because there is no substantiality to God, people interpret who he is and what he is saying in many different ways. Organized religion has books that supposedly have the truth in them, but still many people, even the religious leaders, only go to these books when it is to their advantage. As much as people look to God for comfort, many only look to him them, when it is convenient. People love God because they fear the unknown, they fear a meaningless universe, they fear death, but when they are not fearful, they have no use for God. .
Arthur Miller was one of the people who questioned religion when he wrote his play "The Crucible." "The Crucible" is written about Puritan life in Salem, MA in the late 1500's, which led to the Salem witch trials. The puritans believed in a life completely devoted to God. A life in which doing anything for your own pleasure was considered a sin. The play opens with children dancing in the woods, an obvious sin according to the puritans. They were caught by the minister and in the morning when two of he girls fall ill, he mentions what he saw at first to the Doctor but as people are to scream witchcraft he wants to protect his daughter and his good name and from then on withholds that information from the judges (The Crucible). A minister speaks for God, yet in "The Crucible" he lied for his own benefit. Peoples fear was fueled by accusations of witchcraft. Many could have saved themselves by coming out as a witch and taking the "love of god" into their lives but they refused because they would not lie to their God.