It is very hard to determine the religious views of the philosopher if he has quite definite atheistic inclinations. Didrot believed that from the time he renounces his reasons and start blindly believing into the higher forces that act without no clear logic and explanation he will lose himself and his way of life. With these words he hints that actually he has nothing against the God and would lovely accept him if there are significant reasons to do it. The gift of eternal life in Paradise is not a worthy gift as its existence cannot be proofed.
The main similarities between the religious philosophies of Didrot and Voltaire are in empirical experience of one of the religion. Both Didrot and Voltaire accepted the existence of God still, considered themselves as rebels of Christianity. Other atheistic inclinations might be their natural scientific attitude to religion. The idea of religion is based on believing, you can hardly get any facts about the existence of God. If you go far into searching definite proofs of the postulates, you’ll find yourself disappointed and lost. That was their common problem. The key point of both of their religions are not about declaring the absence of God, but about promoting the scientific approach of religion.
We can try to explain the perspective of Didrot by the fact, that he was a presenter of the Age of Enlightenment and natural religion. Comparing the natural religion with Christianity, Didrot says that natural religion tries to find the answers to all questions and clarify the main mysteries while Christianity succeeds only in creating them, but not solving.
On the other hand, he also believes that each person is quite an individual so we cannot apply all the beliefs to everyone. That is why each person should be measured and judged by the unique approach considering the circumstances, the context and the cotext of its words and actions.This theory explains his social and educational beliefs that children should be taught the individual things they have inclinations for. Being a Roman Catholic, Didrot considered himself a real outlaw of the religion. He wanted to revolutionize the society views upon the matter of God and Christianity. That is why he is positioned as an ungodly person and atheist. Didrot is one of the few philosophers who questioned the propriety of religion in order to restore the balance of intelligence in the world.
Comparing the philosophy of Voltaire, we may see that his views upon the religion are even more paradoxical. For instance, he hated the humanity in all its aspects, but in the meantime, he adored humans and the culture. He mocked the religion, but one of his books was dedicated to the Pope himself. We can hardly define Voltaire as an ordinary atheist as he accepts the existence of God in his own manner. His views were really similar with the views of deists. They believed that God created a planet and went away. He thought that our Universe and life of people needed a creator. But once, Voltaire even suggests that if God does not exist, we should create him. He considered the Bible to be as reasonable as Mythology.
The real problem of Voltaire is that most of the Christians consider him as an atheist, while some of the atheist think of him as of a catholic. Voltaire is completely against the religious injustice that is very tightly bound with a social aspects of life. This injustice is concerned with the hypocrisy of the catholic religion of that time, when rich people were supposed to be more righteous.
If we compare the views of Didrot and Voltaire we will find out certain difference. Didrot wanted to find the answers to everything. He wanted to have proves of God existence, of Him creating the world, and still being the part of its functioning. And talking about Voltaire’s perspective we can definitely see that he was not certain in his thought. Once he believe in the existence of God then he deprecated it. Once he wrote works about religion then he didn’t accept the Bible as something serious.
Works Cited
Diderot, Denis (ascribed by Jacques Proust). "Intolerance." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Philip Whalen. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2002. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.020>. Trans. of "Intolérance," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 8. Paris, 1765.
