Major Barbara Religion Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)

Quote #4

UNDERSHAFT: Choose money and gunpowder; for without enough of both you cannot afford the others.
CUSINS: That is your religion?
UNDERSHAFT: Yes. (2.235-237)

When Dolly presses Andrew on his religious views and asks what would happen if he had to choose between his money and gunpowder religion and the more traditionally religious virtues Dolly has just listed (see the previous quote), Andrew says that one should choose money and gunpowder, since without them, there's nothing else. Smart one, Andrew.

Quote #5

CUSINS: Pardon me. We were discussing religion. Why go back to such an uninteresting and unimportant subject as business?
UNDERSHAFT: Religion is our business at present, because it is through religion alone that we can win Barbara. (2.260-261)

Neither Andrew nor Dolly is religious in the way that Barbara is (although Dolly has been kind of pseudo-pretending with his faux interest in the Army), but they both want to keep her happy, so it seems they must find a way to reconcile their beliefs and hers—or, more likely, reconcile her to their beliefs.

Quote #6

CUSINS: That doesn't matter. The power Barbara wields here—the power that wields Barbara herself—is not Calvinism, not Presbyterianism, not Methodism—
UNDERSHAFT: Not Greek Paganism either, eh?
CUSINS: I admit that. Barbara is quite original in her religion. (2.266-268)

Even though Barbara is portrayed as a kind of naïve idealist in a certain sense, Dolly is careful to note that her religion and principles—like her father's—are actually pretty unique to her.