Catch-22 revolves around the Air Force experience and presents how people in that time viewed religion as part of the war. Characters like the chaplain are frustrated believers who doubt God’s presence in the war. Even though the novel is Post-Modern, it is expressed as an anti-war protest novel. Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22 in the beginning of the 1960s. It foreshadows the terrible worldwide resistance to the Vietnam War. This anti-war attitude is demonstrated through the Zeitgeist, where the American mindset transformed into a skeptical view towards the government. In the novel, religion is viewed in different perspectives. Joseph Heller uses different characters, especially the chaplain, to share his thoughts about how religion is viewed throughout the novel’s time period. The character of the chaplain embodies the religious scenarios in the novel, how war affects religious and moral codes, and the idea of religion that people had during the war.
Joseph Heller presents through the chaplain the religious scenarios of the novel. God plays a part in the novel but he tends to be mentioned in times of conflict. The men brought up religion only when they needed strength or guidance…show more content… In Catch-22, religion was not valued by many people. Many of the characters were atheist and would go around spreading that God didn’t exist. They would ridicule the idea or religion like when they called the chaplain “father” as a sign of mockery. People lost any hope or faith they had because of the tragedies happening due to war. On the other hand, there were people who actually stood by God throughout the war, they were the minority and within them, in part was the chaplain. He did stand by God through most of the novel. He gave comfort and support to the others who were blinded by the monstrosity that is war and had lost the idea of religion. The chaplain played a role of unity, comfort and