"Proctor, I cannot think God be provoked so grandly by such a petty cause. The jails are packed-our greatest judges sit in Salem now-and hangin's promised. Man, we must look to cause proportionate. Were there murder done, perhaps, and never brought to light? Abomination? Some secret blasphemy that stinks to heaven? Think on cause, man, and let you help me to discover it. For there's your way, believe it, there is your only way, when such confusion strikes upon the world. Let you counsel among yourselves; think on your village and what may have drawn from heaven such thundering wrath upon you all. I shall pray God open up your eyes." (Hale 205)
The evil I see from this quote is that Hale thinks it upon himself to judge others' faith even though he consistently claims that that is not his place. He chastises Proctor for not having good Christian character and his house for not housing enough "Holy" charms. He feels that because he came all the way to Salem from Beverley that he must have a good purpose and as such he must find evil or witchcraft somewhere in the village. His blind hunt leads him to falsely accuse good people, ostracize townsfolk, like the Nurses, Proctors, and Tituba, and go on a hunt to kill those that don't confess to a crime they never committed. Hale cannot stand ideas different from his own and he feels that he must compensate through hard discipline and Christian Zealotry.
I find this to be evil because in American society we have religious freedom but it seems as though the only religions that can preach and practice freely are Christians, Jews, and some times more spiritual beliefs like Paganism and Buddhism. I feel that when pressured to answer what our faith is we have to come up with a label to identify ourselves as and when we come up with an answer the others don't like they shun us from society or incessantly put our ideas down as false. To an Atheist, having no belief is just as valid as having one. For people to defend themselves by attacking others is wrong and we should just allow others to freely believe and practice what they want without forcing it upon others or fearing actions or reactions from others.
