Sectarian Trifles and Political Necessity: Swift on Lilliputian Religion in Gulliver’s Travels

This article offers a novel reading of Gulliver’s Travels that argues Jonathan Swift’s analysis of religion and politics is more daring and philosophically profound than is generally recognized. Focusing on Lilliput in Part I, I show that Swift treats sectarian disputes as trivial, while at the same time he demonstrates the enduring political necessity of religion for social and civic order. Through Gulliver’s encounters, Swift presents a range of alternative political arrangements structured by their relation to religious belief, thereby advancing a sustained inquiry into the problem of organizing political life in light of religion. By interpreting the Lilliputian controversies and their underlying theological implications, the article contributes to ongoing debates about Swift’s religious outlook and situates Gulliver’s Travels as a work of political philosophy concerned with the limits of toleration, the persistence of sectarian conflict, and the conditions of a stable political community.