The conversation regarding religion between Haley and Tom in the chapter “Eliza’s Escape” was particularly interesting to me. Haley explains to Tom his intentions of eventually leaving his occupation as a slave trader because he is a religious man. Tom finds Haley’s faith insincere and self-serving. While Tom is a ruthless person, there is something to be said about his awareness of his own brutality that is more respectable (if you may say) than Haley’s self-proclaimed piety. Haley prioritizes his desire for money over any religious belief he has and consoles his conscience through the option to return to religion after working as a slave trader. I feel as though Stowe utilizes the blunt character of Tom in this scene to highlight how religion is often manipulated to both defend slavery and, in this instance, offer one protection from the consequences of their immoral behavior. Tom argues:  

“T’ant that you care one bit more, or have a bit more feelin’ – it’s clean, sheer, dog, meanness, wanting to cheat the devil and save your own skin; don’t I see through it? And your ‘getting religion,’ as you call it, arter all, is too p’issin mean for any crittur; – run up a bill with the devil all your life, and then sneak out when pay time comes! Boh!” (Stowe, 127).  

While a character who is morally against slavery could indicate frustration regarding the manipulation of religion, I believe it was important that Tom, a notoriously evil slave owner, is making the argument. Tom, through emphasizing the similarity of his own immoral character to Haleys,’ a proclaimed religious man, reinforces the untruthful nature of Haley’s piety.