Introduction: The topic of this paper is based on Voltaire’s universal belief that since all people on earth are creations of the Divine Creator, they should tolerate one another. Voltaire was a well-known French enlightenment writer, philosopher, deist and essayist of his time. He was an outspoken advocate of social reforms, and he didn’t fear the strict laws of France and the ruthless penalty given to those who broke them. He used satire to criticize Church dogmatism, and his relentless criticism led to his incarceration in 1717. Voltaire is best known for his “Universal Tolerance” belief that since all people are creations of the Divine Creator, they should tolerate one another (Treatise on Tolerance, 2013). This paper aims to explain to the readers why men should not condemn each other and instead, tolerate the actions of each other. It is also presented here why Voltaire believed on universal tolerance. Thesis: Is Voltaire right about his belief? Yes, Voltaire is right on his universal tolerance belief, and in fact, it is much better than religious intolerance in today’s society. Although Voltaire contends that we are all children of the Divine, and that we should tolerate each other despite our religious affiliation, universal conflict still persists due to religious intolerance. Four centuries later, it is still pervasive in societies throughout the world that people are still intolerant to religious affiliation.
Voltaire’s arguments - People should tolerate each other regardless of creed, skin, citizenship and religion because they are all children of the same God. They should treat each other as brothers whether he’s a Turk, Chinese, Jew or Siamese for they are all creations of one Divine Creator. God will not favor any man of his creation, and despise another man for any reason. He will not choose a particular group of people to be on his side, and leave others whom he hates (Treatise on Tolerance, 2013). Tolerance has not caused a single war, whereas intolerance has resulted in battles all over the world that covered the planet with corpses. In the case of Jean Calas, a 60-year old merchant, he was murdered with the sword of justice in Toulouse on March 9, 1762. He was either tortured to death by his father and mother, assisted by another son and a friend following orders from the judges of Toulouse, or they killed him intentionally for opposing their family’s Catholic religion. In either case, it’s considered the worst abuse of a holy religion that has crafted a great crime. In any era of war, whether Christian or Muslim, religion has never interfered in decisions to declare war against another country. This is because they believe that it’s fate for an inevitable war to protect each country against invasion. But the fact remains that a crowd of victims has fallen in many battles and those who fell might have also killed their enemies to defend themselves. The end result is having many families grieving for the death of their love ones on both sides of the war (Treatise on Tolerance, 2013).
How the world is still intolerant today – With religious discrimination, harassment, bombings and other acts of hostilities happening around the world, Voltaire’s arguments are right. Religious intolerance is everywhere; there is genocide in Bosnia of the Sunni Muslims committed by the Orthodox Catholic Christian Serbs. In Egypt, the Coptic Christians are discriminated by the Muslims. In America, the KKK uses the bible to hide their true motive of discriminating against African Americans. A group of militant Islamist in Pakistan claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack In Pakistan’s history to a Christian church that left numerous people dead and several injured. Sri Lanka is not exempt from the growing intolerance worldwide. This country used to be a tolerant society which survived the horrors of war, and a place where religious unity is treated as a silver lining. Now, silver lining for religion is gone as Buddhist members held a surprise attack to a Muslim prayer hall in the holy city of Dambulla, Central Province, led by the Buddhist chief priest. In Jerusalem, vandals sprayed paint on a Greek Orthodox monastery that read, "Death to Christianity" and another one saying, "Jesus, son of a whore." The suspects behind this overnight vandalism are extremist Jews who are on the side of Israel’s settlement movement. In another case, Muslim hard-liners threw Molotov cocktails at one of the Christian theology schools in Indonesia, and attacked the priests and worshippers with knives and clubs as they performed morning prayers. Aside from this, they damaged several Christian churches across the country (Religious Intolerance, 2013). With these religious intolerances around the world, Voltaire would realize that the principles he advocated for universal tolerance is down the drain. Unless people would embrace the principle of Voltaire, there will always be conflicts.
Religion is more savage than being charitable – In court adjudication of Jean Canlas, the object of legal inquiry was, whether the parents had murdered their own son and the brother killed his own brother to please God. With only a single vote enough to condemn a fellow human being to die in sword shows how savage Catholics were during those times (Treatise on Tolerance, 2013). In this modern era, when a person belongs to a religious minority group like Muslim in a Protestant or Christian-dominated workplace, that person should be prepared to face the wrath of his peers. If he could not stand it because there are only a handful of Muslims on his side, he should be ready to look for another job. This is a clear manifestation of undying intolerance even in companies that serves as a strong call for the attention of the people of today and future generations to rally against the dangers of religion.
Brutality is present in religion – For being a Protestant including his wife and children, Jean Calas, a murder victim in Toulous, was isolated and disowned in his community of Catholics. One of his sons named Marc-Antoine, committed suicide for failing to get a job as a lawyer or work as a merchant just because he was a Catholic. The Toulousians consider their brothers who oppose their religion as monsters. People in this same city condemned 4,000 of its citizens and massacred them for being heretics about 200 years ago. Up to this time, the inhabitants in this community continue to solemnize the day on which the massacre took place through an annual procession and bonfires (Voltaire: A Treatise on Toleration, 2013). Today, smashing the heads of people participating in a religious rally against discrimination with clubs by police authorities is a show of brutality. It’s not even humane to isolate people of different religion from the society. When an assault is carried out by a particular religious group against another that has dominance in a place, the tendency is that all those affiliated with the attackers in religion would be harassed and persecuted by the dominating religious group. In the end, it would be a war against families, brothers and members of the society.
Conclusion: In answer to the thesis, Voltaire is right in believing that universal tolerance can resolve universal conflict, rather than the religious intolerance of today’s society. In the past, people were so fanatic about religion that they isolate their brothers who oppose their religion to the extent of committing murder. Today, however, people are no longer as fanatics as before. Although they want to enjoy autonomy for their religion, their eyes are already open, and they know when their actions are covered with their religions, or they are just making religion as an excuse or as a shield to protect them. However, intolerance in today’s society still prevail as seen in wars in the Middle East, involvement of the Church in issues like abortion, gay marriage, healthcare issues, and diversity in workplace.
Works Cited:
Religious Intolerance. 2013. The Huffington Post.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/09/indonesia-religious-intolerance
_n_922037.html
Treatise on Tolerance. 2013.
Retrieved from: http://www.constitution.org/volt/tolerance.htm
Voltaire: A Treatise on Toleration (1763). 2013.
Retrieved from: http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/world_civ/worldcivreader/
world_civ_reader_2/voltaire.html
