Historical Criticism
             of
             The Power and the Glory
             by
             Graham Greene
            
            
             Graham Greene's, The Power and the Glory, is a religious novel that shows the collision between religion and politics in a small state in Mexico during the 1930's post revolution ("Facts of 'The Power and the Glory" 'by Wolters and Noordhoff, 1994). This struggle between the Church and the State is as a result of the five articles of the 1917 Constitution. Article 3 called for secular education in the schools; Article 5 outlawed monastic orders; Article 24 forbade public worship outside the confines of churches; and Article 27 placed restrictions on the right of religious organizations to hold property. Article 130, which was most obnoxious to Catholics, deprived clergy members of basic rights and made them in effect second-class citizens. Priests and nuns were denied the right to wear clerical attire, to vote, to criticize government officials or to comment on public affairs in religious periodicals (Constitution of 1917, Art. 130. Law of November 25, 1926, Art. 5). It was this last Article that is the main focus of "The Power and The Glory".
            
            
             The Power and the Glory explores this corruption and atonement through a down and out Roman Catholic priest and the people that he encounters. When small Mexican state outlawed the Church, naming it a source of greed and debauchery, the priests have been rounded up by firing squad and executed. There was only one priest that escaped the executions and lived in hiding, which was the whisky priest. The whisky priest represents the martyrdom of several individual priest that stood against the Mexican religious plight.
             The whisky priest, who represents religion and is one of the main characters, earned his name because he drinks a lot of alcohol despite it being an illegal substance during this time period. Throughout the story, the whisky priest continuously fights w...