The Profits of Religion (Great Minds Series) [Paperback]

Upton Sinclair (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2000

This excoriating critique of religion, especially as represented by powerful clerical institutions, is a lesser-known work by the author who had earlier become famous with his publication of "The Jungle", an expose of the poor labour conditions and unsanitary practices in Chicago's meat-packing industry. More than just a tirade against religion, this is the work of an impassioned, idealistic socialist writing at the beginning of the First World War, when the notion of an international socialist revolution still seemed like a very real possibility to many of the left-leaning thinkers of the day. Sinclair's chief concern is social justice and his aim is to enlighten common people by training his critical intelligence like a sharpshooter on the many hypocrisies of established religion, which stand in the way of achieving a just society for all. More than anything he is particularly incensed by the collusion of religion with the power structure of capitalism in exploiting the poor to increase its own wealth while ignoring the obvious material needs of the less fortunate. In the end Sinclair places his faith in a 'new religion' based on the known facts of human nature and on the largely untapped potential of human beings to solve their own problems through reason and science. This work, written before Sinclair and others on the American left became disillusioned with Stalin's Soviet-style socialism, offers an interesting glimpse into the intellectual currents prevalent on the left at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Upton Sinclair was born on September 20, 1878, in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a bachelor's degree from the City College of New York in 1897 and was a graduate student at Columbia University. Sinclair took up writing for newspapers and published several unsuccessful novels before writing THE JUNGLE for serialization in the socialist newspaper "Appeal to Reason". Intended to lead to improved working conditions for the exploited immigrant workers in the meat-packing industry, THE JUNGLE led to passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, to protect consumers. Publication of the novel in 1906 placed Sinclair in the ranks of the early twentieth-century muckraking writers who used their pens to expose corruption and social injustice. He used the royalties from THE JUNGLE to help found a cooperative-living venture, Helicon Hall, in Englewood, New Jersey. His interest in social and industrial reform underlies most of his 80+ books, including the topical and polemical novels THE MONEYCHANGERS (1908), KING COAL (1917), OIL! (1927), and BOSTON (1928); a cycle of 11 historical novels about a contemporary American, Lanny Budd; and many political and social studies such as THE PROFITS OF RELIGION (1918) and THE GOOSE-STEP (1923). Sinclair won the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for DRAGON'S TEETH, the third novel in the Lanny Budd series. Joining the Socialist Party in 1902, Sinclair helped found the Intercollegiate Socialist Society in 1905. For many years he was active in California politics, running unsuccessfully as a Socialist candidate for the U.S. Congress in 1920 and 1922, and for governor of California in 1926 and 1930. In 1934 he received the Democratic nomination for governor of California, running on the Socialist reform platform EPIC (End Poverty in California). He founded the American Civil Liberties Union in California. Sinclair died in Bound Brook, New Jersey, on November 25, 1968.

Product Details

• Paperback: 315 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573928445
• ISBN-13: 978-1573928441
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,183,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book, August 8, 2001

By 

mchenryed - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Profits of Religion (Great Minds Series) (Paperback)

Muckraker and socialist writer, Upton Sinclair, takes on the subject of the corruption of formal religions in this vitriolic piece of non-fiction. Sinclair writes mainly about the crimes that organized Christian religions have committed against the common laborer and the strides they have taken to ingratiate themselves with big business.

Sinclair loads up a cart of rotten eggs and begins hurling them. He scores some major hits. He takes on the Anglican church and their faults as they drove the country of England into lack of preparedness for World War I. The Catholic church, which Sinclair argues is the worst of the bunch, gets 50 pages of scathing attacks--everything from where money came from to buy their churches and how they duped soldiers into world war I with seemingly holy prayer books. He also gives case examples on how they patched the wounds of the striking workers but failed to address the inequalities which causes the workers to strike. The protestant churches get their fair share as well with their crooked ministers who Rockefeller used to pacify his unruly and striking workers.

Organized religion, Sinclair points out, has also undermined women's rights, the right of poor worker to strike or find something better, and brought in a breed of charlatans (some of which have grown tremendously and still exist today). Sinclair also uses history to point out obvious abuses and shows how in some cases the writings of saints with socialistic ideas have been suppressed and not taught (or conveniently ignored).

Sinclair, at the end of the book, does not condemn Christianity. He believes that when the Social Revolution occurs that a new Christianity will take place that will encourage and make equal everyone's rights. Some of the facts and information are a bit dated, but over all the some of the same problems that existed at the turn of the century are still around. In addition, some of the ideas were a bit complicated and probably required more knowledge of what the issues were of the day than what I was familiar with. This book is a definite reminder of the effects of religious corruption and abuses.

16 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Document, May 18, 2001

By 

Andre M. "brnn64" (Mt. Pleasant, SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Profits of Religion (Great Minds Series) (Paperback)

This is a good and interesting document. Tells a lot of raw truths about religion and it's profiteers. However, it claifies the differences between the reality of God and the concept of religion which has traditionally used to liberate a few and enslave the masses. Unfortunately, dated elements as rabid anti-Catholicism and pro-Bolshevism mar this message for modern readers, but if you can read this book with an open mind, it's quite revealing.