World Civilizations: Source 17.6 - Voltaire: On Universal Toleration
On Universal Toleration: Voltaire
The Enlightenment was a time when people started to use empirical reasoning, to think critically, to question old beliefs and to think for themselves instead of being told what to do by the state or the church. Some people started to see God as a neutral being. He had created the universe and then he had sat back and not become involved in the lives of his creations – man. He was seen as the 'great clock-winder' – he had created the universe (wound up the clock) and was now watching to see what happened. This way of thinking was called Deism. Most of the great philosophers agreed with it. They were deists.
Deism did not say that there was no God but it did not support organised religion i.e. the Church. The deists did not believe in parts of the Christian religion like the Trinity and miracles like the virgin birth and the Eucharist. The deists said that there was no point in praying to God because he wasn't interested in what human beings did. Many of the philosophers used deism to show a connection between a perfect God and an imperfect world.
Voltaire was one of the most important men in the Enlightenment. He wrote plays, histories and satires. He was famous for his clever WIT. He was very intelligent. Voltaire did not like organised religion. He did not think people needed to go to church. He was a strong supporter of religious toleration. He agreed with the deists' way of thinking. The first source is from his famous Treatise on Toleration. It is a letter that Voltaire wrote. In this letter, he says that there must be a God. It is logical and it is necessary. His ideas are the same as many other enlightened thinkers of that time.
[Adapted from the following source: 'On Universal Toleration,' from Tobias Smollett, ed., 'The Works of Voltaire' (London: E.R.DuMont, 1901), vol.4, pp. 272-273, 275-276,278. Text modernised by the editor.]
Voltaire's own writings:
'It does not need a lot of thought to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. No, I'll go even further with my idea and say that we should look on ALL men as our brothers. What! Call a Turk a Jew, a Siamese my brother? Yes, of course. Aren't we all children of the same parent? Didn't God create us all?
But these people don't like us. They say our religion is wrong and that theirs is better. Well, I would tell them that they are wrong to think like this. This is what I would say to an imam or a talapoin (religious leaders):
'This little globe, which is no more than a point, rolls around, together with many other globes, in the Universe. Man is a very small animal, about five feet high. He is a very unimportant part of what God has created. Now can you imagine if one of these little creatures (man) says to another little creature (another man) living in a different part of the globe: Listen to me. God has spoken to me. There are about nine hundred million of us little insects on this earth but MY little ant-hill (my country) is the only one that God loves. He hates all the others. Anyone who lives with me in my little spot will be happy and everyone else will be very unhappy forever.'
They would stop me at this point and ask.' What madman could have made such a ridiculous speech?' I would then answer, 'Well, you did!'
'Oh, you practise your religion in a very different way to us. God said, 'Love God and your neighbour.' But you have not done what he said. You have started fights and wars because of a word or words that you don't agree with or because of a few words left out or because of a religious ceremony that you don't understand. I say to you, 'Take me to the place where God makes his judgements on everyone who has died. He decides what will happen to them depending on whether they've been bad or good in their lives. Are you sure that he would look at great, good men like Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, etc. and say to them: 'You must all go to Hell because you do not belong to the right religion!'
I think I see you looking shocked at my words…
May all men remember that they are brothers! May they all hate people who take away freedom! Don't let us all hate one another and start wars! Let's enjoy our short lives and praise God in a thousand different languages. Let us thank Him for creating us all!
'IF GOD Did NOT EXIST, HE WOULD HAVE TO BE INVENTED'
[Adapted from the source: 'If God Did Not Exist, He Would Have to be Invented,' from S.G. Tallentyre, trans., Voltaire in his Letters (New York: G.P.Putnam's Sons, 1919).]
To Frederick William, Prince of Prussia:
Your Highness, I understand that the royal family of Prussia believes strongly that the soul lives on after we die.
It is true that we don't really know what the soul is. We haven't seen it. We do know that God has made us able to think. We don't know if this continues after we die. It's possible that there is a tiny part of us (the soul) which continues to think after we die. We are not sure about any of this, so the best thing to do is to lead a good life and try not to do anything wrong. In this way, we can enjoy life and not be afraid of death.
Some people say they are absolutely sure about God, the angels, the spirits and exactly why God made the world. How can they be so sure when we don't even know why we are, for example, able to move our arms? It's not pleasant to have doubt about things but to be so certain is ridiculous.
What I really don't like about 'The System of Nature' [a book by the Baron d'Holbach] …is the way he says there is no God. He hasn't even tried to prove this. The book has its good points but there is no proof. It is a very dangerous and evil book for both ordinary people and princes: 'If God did not exist, he would have to be invented.' But when we look at nature, we see that God does exist. There is a higher power than man, there is an order to everything and we need that order to survive.
I am now seventy-seven years old and I realise that we are all ignorant about a lot of things like God and the universe. We should just do our best. I am, with deep respect, Voltaire.
Questions:
1. Why was toleration so important to Voltaire?
2. Do you think Voltaire was religious? Why is Deism a comfortable philosophy?