Identify the main point or issue in the following passage, and decide whether the rest of the passage offers reasons for the main point (such as, whether the passage contains an argument), whether it illustrates (provides examples for) the main point, whether it explains the point, is irrelevant to the point, and so on."No person can possess an employment either in England or Ireland unless he be ranked among the faithful, that is, professes himself a member of the Church of England. This reason, which carries mathematical evidence with it, has converted such numbers of Dissenters of all persuasions, that not a twentieth part of the nation is out of the pale of the Established Church. The English clergy have retained a great number of the Romish ceremonies, and especially that of

Question

receiving, with a most scrupulous attention, their tithes. They also have the pious ambition to aim at superiority."-Voltaire, On the Church of England

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The main point here is to satirize the Church of England, carried off by the master. One can fill in the blanks and produce an argument of sorts, the unstated conclusion of which would be something like "The Church of England suffers from hypocrisy, and worse," but we think that's not the best way to see the passage.