Attaining Power by Rules in Religion

By Denise Gonzalez

Thesis:
Religion is a human institution that shows power relationships between people. People
manipulate the rules of a religion to attain their own wants and needs which demonstrates
that human beings have the constant drive to feel powerful.

Paragraph 1: Staying Control of the Situation to feel powerful, irregardless if one’s

control will harm others.

Proof: In the film Saint Ralph, Father Fitzpatrick wanted to control the situation of Ralph
running in the Boston Marathon. If Ralph resulted in winning the marathon, it would, in
Ralph’s belief, create a miracle large enough to wake his mother from a coma. If this
miracle actually would happen, Father Fitzpatrick would lose two benefits.

1st Benefit: The first benefit is religious power. Father Fitzpatrick would not benefit from
this miracle because it would mean that if a boy which he believes to be a sinner can
create a miracle this does not abide the laws required to create a miracle (according to
Fitzpatrick). Father Fitzpatrick feels that breaking these laws, or rules, would threaten the
rules holding his religion together. Since his religion is what grants him his power, he
himself feels threatened by Ralph.

2nd Benefit: Control of people. Ralph threatens the Father’s authority by his constant
rebellion. (Examples are smoking and masturbating.) He does not want Ralph to
influence others in rebelling. If Ralph’s mother lives then Ralph would have to stay in
Father Fitzpatrick’s school, which the Father does not want since he is not fond of Ralph.
Therefore, he would rather have no annoying child at his school at the expense of a life
than an annoying child at the expense of a dead mother.

Conclusion: Father Fitzpatrick argues that it is bad for the Church if Ralph runs the
Boston Marathon, without real direct evidence that it actually will. He uses his authority
and threatens to expel Ralph if he runs. He does not want Ralph to run be cause he feels
he will lose his religious powers as well as his powers with people if Ralph does perform
the miracle.

Paragraph 2: People manipulate religious rules to find solace in power from lives they
would otherwise be powerless in.

Proof: In the novel Hey Nostradamus! the teenage couple Cheryl and Jason get married
to stay in control of their lives that are overly filled with religious rules. They obtain
benefits from this marriage.

Why religious rules steal control of one’s life:

The religious people surrounding the couple steal away the freedom that they should
have. For example, Cheryl frowned upon for having non-religious friends and is also
forced to tell her religious group of Youth Alive! her secrets which steals away her
privacy. The couple is also not allowed to have unmarried sex, to their dismay.

How the couple took back control:

In Las Vegas Cheryl and Jason married illegally underage, but “rightfully” under the eyes
of God. They then could have married sex. They manipulated the rules of their religion
to fulfil their own needs. Cheryl explains the rules can change to her advantage or God’s.
“I’m not sure if I used God or He used me, but the result was the same. In the end, we are
judged by our deeds, not our wishes. We’re the sum of our decisions.” (Coupland,
Douglas. Pg. 19)

Conclusion:
Therefore, Jason and Cheryl gained back power in their lives by tricking the rules of their
religion.

Paragraph 3: Gaining power for vengeance by religious rules.

In Hey Nostradamus! a religious group of teenagers the Alive!ers felt their religious
power was jeopardized when their followers Cheryl and Jason were suspected of having
sex ( as stated above in paragraph two, the suspicions were true about the sex, but they
were unaware of the marriage.)
After feeling that the couple cheated the religion, the Alive!ers fought to feel powerful
again. They did this to Jason after Cheryl’s death by:

1) Ostracizing him. They neglected him in his time of need when Cheryl died.
2) Spreading rumours about him. They perpetuated rumours that Jason helped plot the
massacre in which his wife died in. They also told people that he and Cheryl were having
unmarried sex. Cheryl’s brother Chris tells Jason in a letter of how the religious group
went to his home to spread hate towards Jason there. “Let’s face it, the two of you were
an item, but the Alive!oids made it sound like rape, and that it was your sole job to
corrupt Cheryl. (Coupland. Pg.113)

Therefore because Jason appeared to not follow the religious rule of unmarried sex he
was shunned from his religion. The religious group felt superior because they followed
these rules. When the religious group felt powerless with Jason they put him down to
bring themselves back up. They gained back their power by making him powerless.

Conclusion:
The rules that religion perpetuates gives people power in controlling those who appear
not to follow these rules. People cunningly play with these rules because they are seen as
a key to eternal happiness in heaven- regardless if the rules are actually beneficial in
present day life. People not only manipulate these rules in order to get to heaven, but to
stay powerful, which means to stay in control of a situation, to gain back control of one’s
life, or to hold vengeance and win back control. Therefore, rules are used to gain control
of power.