Dorothy Day's Criticisms Of Organized Religion

I feel a strong connection with Dorothy Day’s criticisms of organized religion during her years as a college student. The poverty and injustice that plagued the world around her conflicted with the religious preaching of peace and joy. What I find most fascinating is the effect the power of literacy had on Dorothy. Immediately swayed by the books she read, Dorothy began to reject one belief system--organized religion-- and substitute it for another belief system: radicalism. However, by not completely dismissing organized religion as well as her faith in God, she constantly turns back to the appeal of religion to give her structure in her life. In her readings of works by radicals like Jack London and Upton Sinclair, who exposed the injustices of the working class, Dorothy developed a distaste for the Christian world. However, the trigger for her complete rejection of organized religion, is a teacher’s statement, which was “religion was something which had brought a great comfort to people throughout the ages, so that we ought to not criticize it” (43). Dorothy took this comfort …show more content…
She called the masses of the poor and oppressed “the New Messiah” who would “release the captives”. Like Jesus Christ, “already they had been persecuted, and they had been scourged, they had been thrown into prison and put to death” (46). By creating this analogy between religion and radicalism, she never fully leaves the ideas of organized religion behind. She soon becomes caught between religion and radicalism after she recounts the incident at Webster Hall, stating “I was making no pretensions to be Christian at the time, but I was professing to be a radical. But I was not a good one” (59). Being torn between religion and radicalism ultimately leads Dorothy on a path of loneliness and wandering because she was unable to give her whole self to one or the