More on Dickens' religious views in his fiction

More on Dickens' religious views in his fiction:

Very few Anglican clergymen appear as important characters in Dickens's fiction; the exception is the unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which is set in Cloisterham, a cathedral city:

• the Rev. Crisparkle in Edwin Drood is a rare example of a wholly positive character who is an Anglican clergyman, and he is especially active and socially conscious
• generally, however, the image of Cloisterham is of a sleepy, reactionary place, cut off from the world.

Dickens had little liking for priests and bishops, religious rites, and thought that complex theological ideas were a barrier to faith:

• there are many examples of Nonconformist clergymen in Dickens's novels, but nearly all of them are depicted as charlatans or hypocrites, who do not live up to the values they preach.

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