The Unconventional Church

For each of us, religion represents and describes something different. To some of us, it is something we hold very close to ourselves, and believe in its power. We may attend weekly mass, church, or whatever it may be just to hold on to the connection we feel to any religious power. On the other hand, there are individuals that hold absolutely no importance for any sort of religion and find that it is too baseless to believe in. Of course, there are those that are also confused and just aren’t sure which side to take.

Mann explains that in his novel, the temples are used as a social tool. The temples became a source to build relations and hold common ground, as well as dictated rules and social practices for these relations. What I find interesting is that it seems more of a utilitarian concept than anything else. Although, today, we still have kids who may go to Church to meet other friends of their age, it is also true that a lot of individuals attend their religious locations just to relax and find peace of mind, instead of for socializing. It seems as though Mann claims that temples are used for the sole purpose of find and draw importance to “social life”, instead of what an individual’s desire to just worship a religious power.

Moreover, what is even more interesting about Mann’s depiction of this temple is the economics that are behind it. The temple, which is said to be the main power of the community, is who collects and distributes a source of food, which is the barley. Because barley needed to be distributed to a large number of individuals, the temple eventually had to create a whole system to manage this distribution. The temple not only had a hold over the land in which the crop is grown but it also mandated workers to farm this land. While these workers did get compensation, it became like a business: planting the crop, hiring workers to work the land, paying them through the crops created. This crop was a necessity in their economy and wasn’t going to be going away anytime soon. While today religious organizations and locations may hold economic processes, this one seems as though it is crucial to the economy of the town. To me, it is an active role of the government to do something like this, but for this town, the church has the authority to do so. It seems a little unordinary to have such a major process take place under the authority of someone other than the government, which is why the church, once again, seems a little unconventional in nature.