This whole freaky religious thing.

On page 4, when Cecilia first tried to kill herself, Eugenides describes the scene in a freaky and religious way. He identifies the EMTs as "the two slaves offering the victim to the altar (lifting the stretcher into the truck)" and he describes Cecilia as "the drugged virgin rising up on her elbows". My question is, why does everything have to be so religious. This was kind of creepy religious too. By that I mean, why did Eugenides feel the need to even compare the EMTs as "slaves offering the victim to the altar"? I get that the whole book is based off of religious things like the whole virgin mary thing, and the Lisbon family being all conservative and religious. But I don't understand why at that moment he wanted to describe the EMTs as "slaves offering the victim to the altar". What altar? Who were they offering it to? Why are the EMTs slaves? I think this is a key line because it shows the creepiness and religious aspect of the book even though I may not understand the reasoning behind it completely.