Disillusionment with Organized Religion George Michael Grima 12th Grade

Owen conveys his views on organized religion through his poetry. The altruistic values usually associated with religion are tarnished so that the latter can be a means of propaganda to promote patriotism and war. This inappropriate converging of state and church affairs leads to Owen’s disillusionment. The futility of the organized church is emphasised since it provides no consolation for those on the battlefield. The genuine values of religion can only be portrayed by the soldiers themselves, in their sacrifice; not to their state but to their fellow soldiers. Owen explores these ideas in various works, namely At a Calvary near the Ancre, Le Christianisme, Anthem for Doomed Youth, and The Parable of the Old Man and the Young.

The major and general issue with Owen’s disillusionment is the incompatibility of war and Christianity, or rather patriotism and religion respectively. There is no religious comfort on the battlefield. The authorities promoting the church only act as figureheads who provide no consolation to the soldiers. The ‘packed-up saints lie serried’ in Le Christianisme and disregard the rubble above them as the authorities remain indifferent to the suffering of the soldiers. The former are distant from the...