They require lots of special materials, design, and tools. Cathedral are massive structures "that took hundreds of workers fifty or a hundred years to build" (3.9). When asked in an interview whether he was religious Carver answered, "No, but I have to believe in miracles and the possibility of resurrection" ( source). The narrator's position is basically an echo of Carver's own views on the subject of religion. Sometimes it's hard." (3.16) There's nothing to indicate he changes his mind about religion by the end of the story, but maybe he does learn to believe in something, like maybe that he needs a friend and has found one in Robert. But ask if you are in any way religious? You don't mind my asking? (3.15) "I guess I don't believe in it. (3.14) "Let me ask you a simple question, yes or no.
In those olden days, God was a part of everyone's life.
The narrator's point of view is presented most clearly in this conversation: "In the olden days, when they built cathedrals, men wanted to be close to God. Similarly, we don't know if Robert is a religious guy, but we do know that he's never given cathedrals much thought until this evening. None of the characters seem to be actively religious, but the woman's religious views aren't discussed. If you disagree with us, we hope our discussion provokes an interesting essay. Since the evidence we see leans toward the secular view, that's the view we're exploring in our discussion of the title.
A much smaller group of critics see Carver's work, including "Cathedral," as espousing Christian principles. Most critics don't see "Cathedral" as having explicitly religious themes, though such themes aren't excluded. There aren't any secular (nonreligious) cathedrals. A cathedral is a cathedral is a kind of church. Cathedrals don't make an appearance in this story until the third section, and then it's fairly obvious why the story is called "Cathedral." Cathedrals are the subject of the television documentary and of the narrator and Robert's drawing.
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