The lieutenant in "The Power and the Glory," by Graham Greene, only sees the negative effects Christianity has in his country, he sees people starving, and priest's that have no need of tightening their belts. These priest's have food, but instead of handing it out, they pray to these starving people, telling them that the gates of heaven open up through humility and poverty. But if someone has to constantly think about where their going to get their next meal, how are they going to have time to think about the benefits they will have in the afterlife? And the lieutenant seeing these atrocities occur by the church, tries to do his best and change his people's drastic situation. However he was so caught up in changing his world, that it was the people he was seeking to benefit that were the ones who were victimized. The lieutenant tries to track down every last priest, and in his rage and his hunt, he decides to "...take a man from every village in the state as a hostage. If the villagers didn't report the man when he came the hostage would be shot-and the we'd take another (Greene 24). Who does the lieutenant think these hostages are? They are the common man just trying to make ends-meet, and they are being stomped over. What do they have to do with the priest? Innocent people were harmed and killed in the pursuit of the priest, but it's all ok, because the state as a whole was taking steps in the right direction. The priest, if you asked him would tell you he's a bad person, but I disagree, he really is only a bad priest. The lieutenant definitely has a point that their was something wrong with the Church as whole, since it seemed, that the priest, when he was wealthy had all the traits that are not forbidden, but looked down upon in the Christian religion; pride, greed, lust. ETC. The church is a disease for Mexico at this time, sucking the food from the mouths of the poor, but only because they're starving is a worthy price to pa