How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
No organist played a Magnificat but the wind in the flue chimney, no choir sang a Nunc Dimittis but the withering gulls, yet I fancy the Creator was not displeazed. (1.4.7)
It seems that Adam Ewing is saying that even when stripped of all the pomp and circumstance and the unnecessary ceremony and brought back to its roots, religion can still do some good. Although Cloud Atlas shows the dark side to religion, it also shows how religion can benefit people. For Adam Ewing, it's on of his only solaces in Ocean Bay, a town full of debauchery.
Quote #2
People knelt in prayer, some moving their lips. Envy 'em, really, I do. I envy God, too, privy to their secrets. Faith, the least exclusive club on Earth, has the craftiest doorman. (2.6.6)
This echoes a later sentiment of Sonmi's. She says she envies her ignorant sisters who have not ascended like she has. Frobisher seems to see people who believe in God as ignorant of a larger machination at work. And, since ignorance is bliss, sometimes being ignorant looks like a comfortable position to a very troubled person. Is ignorance bliss in Cloud Atlas? Or does it just lead to manipulation and slavery?
Quote #3
"[Megan's mother] buys into feng shui or I Ching or whatever instant-enlightenment mumbo jumbo is top of the charts." (3.6.3)
Rufus Sixsmith is a man of science who doesn't believe in this spiritual hullabaloo. Of course, this is before he meets someone who could be his former lover reincarnated. Too bad he dies before he really have an opportunity to think about it.