Christianity was of great importance in the lives of both those living in the city and those living in the country. Although many broke the law, church attendance was compulsory during much of the seventeenth century (Hobby, 5). "The major political and social issues of the day were argued out in terms not of 'what people wanted' but 'what God wanted' (Hobby, 6)." As indicated before in the section on education, even those who were uneducated could still often read the Bible and other texts promoted by Protestant leaders. This had a great impact on the lives of women, because these religious texts clearly indicated women's subordinate position to men (Hobby, 6). For example 1 Cor. 14. 34-35, "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak." And 1 Tim. 2. 11-12, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." The Bible and other texts promoted by Protestant leaders carried similar messages aimed at women regarding their obedience to men, marriage, and divorce.

Conversely, there are many other examples from Renaissance literary works that do not coincide with the messages set forth by the Protestant leaders. In John Skelton’s The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng:
“And as she (“Ales,” Alice. Cf. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath) drynkynge,
She fell in a wynkynge
With a barly hood –
She pyst where she stood.
Than began she to wepe,
And forthwith fell on slepe.
Elynour toke her up,
And blessed her with a cup
Of newe ale in cornes;
Ales founde therin no thornes,
But supped it up at ones,
She founde therein no bones (lines 370-381).”
Here, Ales, or “Alice Cf. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath,” as the footnote indicates, becomes so drunk she urinates on herself and passes out. Elynour, the alewife, proceeds to “bless her (Ales) with a cup,” in which Ales finds “no thornes,” but she drinks it and finds no “bones.” It’s as if, Elynour has become a Jesus-like figure to the drunk Ales. Elynour blesses Ales with a cup, just as Jesus blessed his disciples with a cup. Then there is the mention of thorns, which Jesus wore on his head when he was crucified. Finally, Ales takes the cup, yet finds no bones. No bones were found in Jesus’s tomb after he was crucified.

In Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair Dame Purecraft exhibits insincerity in regards to religion as she “brokered marriages aimed at helping ‘decayed’ or financially troubled Puritan men by marrying them to rich widows, with much of the wealth obligated to help other Puritans in need, the ‘poor elect.’ Similarly she has married Puritan women to rich men, getting money for the cause (footnote 58-64):
“I am a special maker of marriages for our decayed brethren with our rich widows, for a third part of their wealth, when they are married, for the relief of the poor elect; as also our poor handsome young virgins with our wealthy bachelors or widowers, to make them steal from their husbands when I have confirmed them in the faith and got all put into their custodies (lines 58-64).” Obviously Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair was performed and presented as a form of entertainment. Nevertheless it is telling to note the ways in which religion was presented in such works.

The "King James" Bible
London, (1611)

Elynour Rummyng an alewife