Religion In Cry The Beloved Country

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As we live our daily lives, almost everyone encounters religion at some point, whether they believe or not. In the novel “Cry, the Beloved Country” written by Alan Paton, we are told a story about a father struggling to find his family and himself with the reliance on friends and prayer. This novel really emphasizes the importance of religion and what religion can truly do. In this novel, religion plays a big part in everyone’s day to day life. Even though there are several different religions throughout the novel, people still come together as one no matter what religion they are a part of. In the novel, one of the main characters, Kumalo’s whole life was centered around his relationship with God, Kumalo’s study of prejudice and how the world …show more content…

he asked. He was afraid, umfundisi. He is not of our church. Is he not of our people? Can a man in trouble go only to those of his church? I shall tell him, umfundisi” (13). In Cry the Beloved Country, religion shows for another identity, other than race. Kumalo position as a reverend gives him much more power than the average person and more people want to listen and talk to him. But, as Religion is almost always a positive force in the novel, it is a negative problem for Sibeko, because he is scared to approach Kumalo because him and Kumalo share different religions. It seemed very interesting to me that Sibeko was scared to approach kumalo because of religion but other main characters like, Msimangu, Kumalo, and Jarvis, all come together but are different religions. “The philosophers considered here are undeniably diverse, but I believe that the philosophical or religious trope of the beloved community, diversely envisioned, is an informative if not also inspiring lens through which – as Thurman put it – “to perceive a harmony that transcends all diversities and in which diversity finds its richness and significance”(4). Religion is a huge deal in today 's world and can bring all different types of people together no matter what they believe, what they look like or how they talk because they all share one thing and that is their love for God. Religion changes people’s lives in many ways and brings people together like nothing else …show more content…

Ms. Litheube is a Msutu and Kumalo is a zutu but Ms. Litheube is a good member of the church and is more then willing to have Kumalo, a priest, into her home. “I have a place for you to sleep, my friend, in the house of an old woman, a Mrs. Lithebe, who is a good member of our church. She is an Msutu, but she speaks Zulu well. She will think it an honour to have a priest in the house” (21). This shows that religion has the ability to take away the differences between two different tribes and come together as one. And it also brings Kumalo together with a white priest like, Father Vincent. “Natural surroundings play an important role in the Zulu religion as people view themselves as being connected to the environment.” The people of the Zulu religion have the same morals as other and they connect with other cultures and religion by everyone’s love with the environment. Religion kind of proves to be a unifying force in the novel and the key topic throughout the

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