After reading Part III of The Power and the Glory chapter 4 stood out to me the most in regard to the lack of identity and ownership over ones actions due to fear. The priest had been captured by the lieutenant and was waiting in jail for the next day when he was to be executed for treason. During that time he requested to see Padre Jose to allow him to confess his sins before his death. However, when the lieutenant went to his house to ask him to come and absolve the priest of his sins he said he could not do it. Although he was still a priest he was forced to marry and become an ordinary man by order of the Governor in order to receive a pension and remain a member of society. His wife in turn told him not to venture to the prison because everyone in the village would know that he was a priest and ask for him to serve Mass and give communion and confessions to all, ruining his ability to receive the pension he was promised (Greene 205).
It is evident that Padre Jose is at odds with his moral obligation as a priest to give absolution to anyone who seeks it, especially if they are meant to die soon, and his obligation to his now wife and the preservation of his status in society. This scene holds much evidence for the aspect of fear and the atheistic and “God-hating” principles invoked by the Governor and the government officials during the time of this revolution in Mexico. This is exactly the terminology that Shafarevich uses in his philosophical work The Socialist Phenomenon to discuss the socialist theory regarding human society. He goes as far as to state that atheism is the wrong description for this sort of oppression, it is “God-haters” and “theophobia” that instills this sense of hostility toward believers in society (Shafarevich 265).
This is exactly the hold that the Governor has over Padre Jose in making him commit to all sorts of societal changes to be anti-religious in all respects.