Bernard Shaw: His View of Religion in his Plays

Abstract

Prior to the advent of science and philosophy in late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, religion took a new shape in the mind of creative people like George Bernard Shaw. His extensive reading capacity and profound knowledge about his contemporary world allowed him to ponder over existing theological practices and made him take a different view about them. Shaw expressed his dissatisfaction with existing institutional religious practices that affected and reflected his time in his works. He was very vocal and at the same time ambivalent in the presentation of his thoughts. He was a self-proclaimed atheist and at the same time expressed his deep concern about religion with conviction. Shaw’s religiosity was neither connected to any particular theological practices; nor did he profess any religion. Focusing on the intellectual world, he felt that religion should be given a shape which would fit the modern mind. With this mission in view, he decided to depend on promoting the freedom of consciousness that it could ultimately lead to a world free from the superstitious, malpractices of religion. As Christopher Hollis observes in his essay “…there is clearly an end of all thought and of all argument. For there is an end of standards. It is to Mr. Shaw’s credit that he is one of the few men who has made a real attempt to set Free Thought free. He fell into a world in which the fashionable and daring thing was to challenge accepted belief after accepted belief” (1982, 157). In this dissertation I examine the Shavian world view and his plays, prefaces and letters that highlight his deep concern about religion. Besides discussing Shaw’s extraordinary concept about religion, I show that Shaw’s religious views never remained the same. Rather, with the passage of time he encountered different situation that helped him develop his ideas about religion continuously. His development of thought ultimately led humanity towards a new concept of religion which he felt would be more convenient and beneficial.