Analysis Of The Poisonwood Bible: The Downside Of Christianity

The Downside of Christianity

Since 1991 the Westboro Baptist Church has preached their hatred towards Jews, Catholics, and Homosexuals. Over the years the Westboro Baptist Church has formed into a hate group rather than a religious organization. The church has less than forty members, mainly consisting of the founder Fred Phelps children and his grandchildren. The church started off as a normal southern baptist church back when it was founded in the 1950’s. But as time went on, Fred Phelps forced his own opinions onto God’s message.The church began to follow Fred's lead and picketed numerous public events including a ceremony for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting, Arlington National Cemetery’s Memorial Day Service, and

The idea of the “extreme Christian” is perfectly illustrated by the character Nathan Price. Nathan Price imposes his beliefs on others. He is stuck in his ways and blinded by his own arrogance. Nathan sees his views as the only right ones. He represents the destructive side of religion. Kingsolver states “There are Christians and then there are Christians.” There are two types of Christians in the real world and in The Poisonwood Bible. There are the ones who give Christianity a good name like Orleanna Price. Then there are the others, for example Nathan Price. Nathan Price sees religion as a power. Compared to his wife Orleanna, Nathan views his faith very differently. Their child, Leah Price, perfectly explains the difference between her parents religious views. Leah says “[Nathan] wears his faith like the bronze breastplate of God's foot soldiers while our mother's is more like a good cloth coat with a secondhand fit" Orleanna sees religion as a comforting thing well Nathan sees it as a

He used the idea of “convert first, questions never.” But unlike Nathan many saw his ideas of this new religion not as a new way of life. The Congolese never heard the lord's word before Nathan Price arrived. In book six when Adah was discussing the mistranslated books of the bible she brings up a valid point. "[The Bible is] God's word, brought to you by a crew of romantic idealists in a harsh desert culture eons ago, followed by a chain of translators two thousand years ago." The Bible is like a tool. Nathan Price had that tool. He was responsible for preaching the words and lessons that were written inside the Bible to the Congolese. In this translation Nathan Price left out many of the Bible's biggest focuses. Mainly he forgot to apply those focuses to his own life. A perfect example of this is in book one when the Price family first arrives at the congo. Nathan sees the congolese woman with no tops on. He preaches to them about nudity and shames them. Nathan didn’t see how other parts of the world may not have the same views as