Life — December 28, 1916 — page 21: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This illustration satirizes hypocrisy in religious institutions. A preacher gestures dramatically from a pulpit, appearing to deliver a moral sermon. Below, in the church pews, seated congregants ignore or turn away from his words — literally embodying the caption's reference to "speak no evil, hear no evil." The satire suggests that clergy preach virtue while their audiences willfully ignore those teachings, or conversely, that preachers themselves fail to practice what they preach. The plants and formal church architecture reinforce the setting as an established, respectable institution, making the disconnect between stated morality and actual behavior the cartoon's pointed critique. This reflects turn-of-the-century skepticism about institutional religion's authenticity.