How we cite our quotes: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Now whenever things are so that a lot of people feel they ought to be doing something, the weak, and those who go weak with a lot of complicated thinking, always make for a sort of do-nothing religion, very pious and superior, and submit to persecution and the will of the Lord." (2.7.58)
The complete opposite of the curate is the artilleryman. His view of religion is that people tend to rely on some notion of fate when they're too weak to exercise their free will. This helps us see the curate and the artilleryman as foils. (The curate is pro-fate, while the artilleryman is anti-fate.) The artilleryman's argument might be persuasive, but then again, maybe we should take into account the speaker. The artilleryman is a guy who was saved from the Heat-Ray because his horse tripped and threw him into a ditch (1.11.26). Even if we believe in free will, it seems we have to recognize the possibility of accidents. Where do accidents fit in between fate and free will?
Quote #8
And scattered about it, some in their overturned war-machines, some in the now rigid handling-machines, and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row, were the Martians – dead! – slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; slain as the red weed was being slain; slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth. (2.8.21)
At this point, the narrator has fully bought into the curate's view of God and fate. (Although with this guy's mood swings, let's see how long this lasts.) Notice that, except for that final remark about God and his wisdom, this entire statement could be made to refer to scientific fate. Because the Martians didn't take some precautions (and because they evolved to not have an immune system), they died of bacterial infection. So what is it? God or science?
Quote #9
The dome of St. Paul's was dark against the sunrise, and injured, I saw for the first time, by a huge gaping cavity on its western side. (2.8.28)
Most of The War of the Worlds seems realistic, so when we hear about the damaged dome of St. Paul's, our first impulse is to say, "Darn, we really liked that dome… but we guess that's what happens when Martians attack." But this is a pretty particular landmark. There are lots of famous structures to destroy in London without mentioning religious buildings. Why is St. Paul's damaged? How would it affect one of Wells' contemporaries to read about St. Paul's being damaged?