Sunday, September 15, 2019

According to Faber, how has religion changed? Is it a good change? Why?

When Montag visits Faber's home, he attempts to persuade Faber into helping him by ripping pages out of the Bible. Montag knows that Faber cannot stand to watch such a significant, rare book be destroyed in front of his face and Faber eventually acquiesces to Montag's request. Faber mentions that their dystopian society has distorted the figure of Christ by making Him one of the "family" in the parlor walls and using His image to sell various holiday items. Faber elaborates on the commercialization of religion by mentioning how advertisers have turned Christ into a "regular peppermint stick . . . sugar-crystal and saccharine" in order to sell more products.
Faber also believes that God would not even recognize His own son by the way that companies have distorted His image. In Bradbury's dystopian society, citizens are only concerned with consuming entertainment and experiencing thrills. Religion has no influence on the superficial citizens, who are immoral and insensitive. The negative change in religion reflects how debased and corrupt society has become.


According to Faber, religion has changed significantly. Jesus, for example, has become part of the family on the parlor walls, and the Christian message has changed, too:

He's a regular peppermint stick now, all sugar-crystal and saccharine when he isn't making veiled references to certain commercial products that every worshipper absolutely needs.

In other words, the message of Christianity has been hijacked by advertisers who use religion to sell more of their products. The moral essence of religion, therefore, has been removed and replaced by materialism and entertainment.
In Faber's opinion, this is a negative change. He wonders, for example, if God would even recognize Jesus. He has been hijacked by the media and given a commercial value.
For Faber, this negative change to religion goes hand in hand with censorship. Just as the media and the government have destroyed education and learning, they have also destroyed religious morality and the concept of piety.

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