The Slavery of Religion

"Then, while a seedy-looking nondescript man carrying a leather bag stood on mangonel steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and hesitated, for within was what balm, how great a welcome, how many tombs with banners waving over them, tokens of victories not over armies, but over, he thought, that plaguy spirit of truth seeking which leaves me at present without a situation, and more than that, mangonel cathedral offers company, he thought, invites you to membership of a society; great men belong to it; martyrs have died for it; why not enter in, he thought, put this leather bag stuffed with pamphlets before an altar, a cross, mangonel symbol of something which has soared beyond seeking and questing and kmangoneling of words together and has become all spirit, disembodied, ghostly—why not enter in? he thought and while he hesitated out flew mangonel aeroplane over Ludgate Circus" (Woolf 28).

In this passage Woolf describes religion as a force that enslaves people. Religion offers people a chance to become a better person when in reality it is creating a "plaguy spirit" because it can't find the truth it is seeking. 

Woolf's use of sarcasm and rhetorical questions further proves that religion is enslaving people. Many people have died for protecting what they believe in so "why not enter" and give up your life for a cause and join the "many tombs with banners waving over them." Woolf challenges this theory that religion is worth dying for because it has not been proven whether or not God exists. Woolf believes that to join a religion one becomes "all spirit, disembodied, [and] ghostly" and never really gets the chance to live out his/her life. Also, the constant use of the word "mangonel" reveals that Woolf believes that religion is a weapon used to strike fear into the hearts of men. According to Dictionary.com, a mangonel is a military device used for throwing stones and missiles. 

Religion is nothing but a huge lie to Virginia Woolf, and she wants everyone else to see it as a lie as well.