The Role of Spirituality and Religion in Night by Elie Wiesel

Religion has always explained the unknown in knowable terms. It has created symbols for that which could not be known. This symbology is so deeply imbedded in our minds, cultures, and cosmology that it is rarely questioned from inside the religious paradigms. From outside that paradigm, the religious imagery loses its impact, its subliminal meaning. Religion functions to relieve the anxiety of the absolute fact for each of us that we will die, that our …

…conflict that Eliezer struggled with throughout the novel. "Night" presents its audience with a range of beliefs: atheism bordering on spirituality, bordering on orthodox religion. Although making no hard-line judgements about the preferred path to follow, the significance of having morals and maintaining a value system is not overlooked. As Elie illustrates, in the midst of absolute evil, when all else is stripped away, who you are and what you believe is all that remains.