Religion In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World examines his world during 1931. His writing addressed some of the vital issues and topics in his society. Eighty-six years have passed since Huxley wrote his book, and society has experienced changes since then. One of the topics in Brave New World was soma, Huxley’s allusion to religion. In 1920s America, most American citizens were Christian, and specifically Roman Catholic. Other religions were considered less significant, and sometimes, differing opinions were controversial. When the year 1929 came, social standards became less important as The Great Depression occured. The Great Depression rocked the faith of many people who were once devout Christians (“Religion in the 1920s,” 2012). Because of

Besides the Depression, evolution was also a threat to the strict Christian morals that were upheld. In 1925, John Scopes got into legal trouble for teaching evolution in a public school classroom (“Religion & Science”). But nowadays, times are much different. Nowadays, there is a separation of church and state. In fact, it is illegal to teach religion in school, but you can teach evolution (“Joint Statement of Current Law on Religion in the Public Schools”). As a result, since the force of Christianity isn’t so heavily imposed on the general population, people have become more tolerant of other religions. “Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation” (“Survey Shows U.S.

“All women were encouraged from childhood… to consider the interests of their menfolk first rather than their own” (Pankhurst). However, Huxley’s time was a prominent milestone in women's’ rights. In 1920, women gained the right to vote. Also, in that timeframe, “the number of working women increased by 25 per cent,” and “divorce was made easier” so women were not forced to put up with abusive marriages and husbands. Although these rights were made available to women, “most women… were not as free as their men” (“The Changing Role of American Women in the 1920s,” 2014). Yet compared to the years prior to 1920s, these examples were major victories in the fight for women's’ rights. Since Huxley’s time, women have gained more rights. Women now have roles in combat, health care for women has improved, and women are better represented in the government by female senators and politicians (“9 Ways Women’s Lives Have Improved Since 2005,” 2005). But just, like in the early 1900s, women’s rights are still an area of concern for some American women. In January 2017, there was a march for women’s rights on Washington, and over half a million people attended the march (Gade). The fight for women’s rights is still alive, and numerous women support the