Religion has played an important role in every society since the dawn of civilization. This importance can be seen from the earliest written texts of ancient Samaria to many famous works written in modern times. In religion, authors have a subject that will guarantee them a wide prospective audience. This was most evident in Europe during the years leading up to and during the Protestant Reformation. Two authors of this period, both devout Catholics, used religion as a center piece in many of their works. Through Raphael Hythloday's description of the perfect society, Utopia, Thomas More lavishes praise upon his fictional Utopians for their willingness to embrace Christianity. In contrast, Desiderius Erasmus uses his character Folly, to voice his many criticisms of the current state of the Christian Church. Both More and Erasmus successfully used religion to create an audience for their respective works, More used Hythloday's voice to take a conservative approach by praising Christianity while Erasmus" uses Folly to voice his radical criticisms for the baseless traditions held dear by church leaders. .
Thomas More's praise of Christianity helped to create a wide audience for his work Utopia. The mysterious mariner Raphael Hythloday describes how he traveled to the land Utopia and his experience therein including his introduction of Christianity to the Utopians. Hythloday states that, " no small number of them were / converted to our religion and were washed clean in the sacred / waters of baptism" (117). Hythloday explains that one of the facets of Christianity that most appealed to the Utopians was the, "life in common still practiced in most genuine Christian communities" (monasteries) (117). More's support of Christian traditions are shown when Hythloday laments that, "But because there was no priest among the four of us they received the other sacraments / but still lacked those which among use are conferred only by / priests" (117).
