Utopia And Religion In Sir Thomas More

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Recommended: Thomas More’s Utopia

Sir Thomas More wrote this story exactly in the time when Europe was religiously being torn apart by conflicts and revolutions such as the reformation, that caused “the separation of the Christians of western Europe into Catholics and Protestant” (khanacademy). Religion as a whole was as a consequence, an important and hot topic to discuss at the time considering all that is going on. I wonder why Hythloday spent so much time and effort discussing that matter with the narrator. It was rather dangerous to talk too controversially about religion during that period. The Author, by expressing himself through a fictional monotheist but laic polity in which the inhabitants all believe in a single Power, God and governed by specific moral code laws …show more content…

They could effectively become a priest in Utopia. Or rather, they could become a priest more easily in Utopia than in real life. With such a rigorous selection and ordination process by the clergy, pious widows and pre-selected women are more likely to have that chance compared to other women in most Christian countries. The standards of religious marital status and the allowance of the opposite sex in the clergy are changed and loosen up by More, the religion is therefore more tolerant, free of hassle and welcoming to potential believers. Priests hold much more responsibility in as well. They are responsible for the education of the children as well as intervening and judging in casual everyday conflicts or small crimes. This shpws the importance the author emphasize on the role of priests, they are some sort of religious professors who guarantee the sustainability of the whole nation by forming younger generations manners and mindset in order for them to become qualified members of the society. Thomas more here wanted to draw a distinctive line between universal school teaching with the overall faith and manner of people, book smart doesn’t necessarily guarantee an acceptable overall character for the benefit of a community. It could be relatively beneficial if a nation focuses on forming its members at an early age than teaching them lessons after lessons which they would probably don’t need and would not apply them to good use

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