How we cite our quotes: (Scene, Line numbers)
Quote #4
MOTHER COURAGE: […] I think I got meself cleared. I told 'em I didn't hold with Antichrist, the Swedish one with horns on […] They didn't believe me all that much, but they ain't got no regimental canteen lady. So they're winking an eye. Could turn out for the best, you know. We're prisoners, but same like fleas on a dog. (III, 326-337)
Gotta watch out for that Swedish Antichrist. Mother Courage delights in the way her business triumphs over the religious divide between Catholics and Protestants. This passage suggests that the military is more interested in keeping itself and the war going, and cares a lot less about faith than it claims. This gestures toward what Mother Courage has to say about corruption (see III, 644-649).
Quote #5
THE COOK: […] So the poor old king's had nowt but trouble for all his kindness and expenses, and that's something he had to make up for by taxes of course, which caused bad blood, not that he's let a little matter like that depress him. One thing he had on his side, God's word, that was a help. Because otherwise folk would of been saying he done it all for himself and to make a bit on the side. So he's always had a good conscience, which was the main point. (III, 199-207)
Ever the ironic wit, the cook points out the way the king's claim to have "God's word" on his side is a cover-up for his plan to "make a bit on the side." This is in line with other things the cook says (e.g. III, 150-158), which also suggest that the use of religious rhetoric by those in power is a strategy to sell the war to the taxpaying lower classes.
Quote #6
MOTHER COURAGE: […] Thank the Lord they're corruptible. After all, they ain't wolves, just humans out for money. Corruption in humans is same as compassion in God. Corruption's our only hope. Long as we have it there'll be lenient sentences and even an innocent man'll have a chance of being let off. (III, 644-649)
Whew, we don't even know where to start with this one. Mother Courage could not make her cynical feelings toward Christianity any clearer. While others turn to God as a source of compassion, understanding, and justice during times of difficulty, Mother Courage counts on the corruptibility of humans. Her source of hope is not her belief in something higher, but is instead her trust in the fact that the world is a bad place, where people act out of their own interest. In short, she's lost all faith in God.