Political Derived From Holy Writ

Voltaire (1694-1778) The Philosophical Dictionary (1764) Excerpts from the Original Electronic Text at the web site of the Hanover Historical Texts Project. An early champion in France of Newtonian science, Lockean principles of liberty, and religious toleration, Voltaire criticized European (and especially French) institutions and beliefs with savagely satirical wit and humor. Forced to live in exile in Geneva (after being impris adeptd in the Bastille), Voltaire lived by his pen, contend the immorality of the criminal system, the irrationality of aristocratic privilege, the brutality and pointlessness of war, and especially the dogmatic and persecutory mentality that he saw in Christianity as it was believed and practiced by most Christians, especially clerics. Voltaire himself was a disbeliever who, in his writings, often playfully used the propose of deliveryman to convey his deist views and to criticize intolerant Christians. The interest excerpts ar from his anal yse on Religion, a dream-like fantasy in which a genie takes him to a desert to converse with sages, and from his essay on Theist or deist. Questions 1. In Voltaires story, who was responsible for violent destruction so many people? Why were they killed? 2. How does Voltaires character of the Nazarene describe his religion?

What are the implications of his comment that his religion is as old as the universe? 3. How does Voltaire define a theistic (deist)? How would you characterize theist beliefs and ethics? RELIGION [1] I MEDITATED dying wickedness; I was absorbed in the contemplation of spirit; I admir ed the immensity, the course, the harmony of! these infinite globes which the vulgar do non know how to admire. [2] I admired still more(prenominal) the word which directs these vast forces. I said to myself : One mustiness be blind non to be dazzled by this spectacle; one must be stupid not to manage the write of it; one must be mad not to adoration Him. What support of worship should I render Him? Should not this tribute be...If you want to get a full essay, place it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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