Voltaire’s Views towards Religion
Raymond Yu
Mr. de Groof
Grade 12 Literature
1/16/15
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Voltaire, a French enlightenment writer, expressed his opinions on religion
in his satire Candide. Voltaire himself is a faithful believer of God, as many
would consider him as a deist. He does not oppose religion, but is against
people abusing religion, using the name of religion for their own good. He also
advocates religious tolerance, and believes that different religious groups
should not be fighting wars among each other.
Most of the religious characters in Candide, except a few such as
Jacques the Anabaptist, were portrayed negatively. Furthermore, every
organized religious group seems to be vicious and detrimental to the society.
By using the incidents in Candide’s journey, Voltaire demonstrated how
ridiculous a religion and their believers could be.
Throughout Candide, Voltaire criticized Leibnez’s belief of “best of
possible all worlds”. Pangloss was one of the firm believers of Leibnez’s theory
and teaches the theory to Candide. Pangloss thinks that “things cannot be
otherwise than they are, for since everything is made to serve an end,
everything necessarily serves for the best
(p.2)”. However, Pangloss was
infected with syphilis and was almost killed by the disease. Then, he
experienced a shipwreck, encountered a huge earthquake and was hanged.
Everything that happened to him seems to contradict with his theory of “best of
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possible worlds”. However, even in the end of the story, after he has been
through and saw so many awful things in the world, he still insists on his theory.
Voltaire uses this to show the stubbornness of the believer of Leibnez’s theory
-- the world is full of injustice, killing and raping, but they still believe that there
is no way the world could be a better place. By Pangloss’ story, Voltaire urges
people to stay open-minded and do not excessively believe in a theory.
Christianity was also criticized in Candide. When Candide arrived in
Holland, “having heard that everyone that everyone in that country was rich
and Christian, he felt confident of being treated as well as he had been in the
castle of the baron”. However, instead of meeting with benevolent Christians,
he was intimidated by an orator. The orator was speaking about charity, but in
fact does not even give the poor Candide a piece of bread. This shows that
saying and doing is a completely different case. Religious leaders, or in this
case orators, often teaches others a thing but does another.
The Grand Inquisitor is also an example of abusing religion. The Grand
Inquisitor is one of the leaders of the Catholic Church. However, he has the
exact opposite characteristics as one would expect a leader of a religious
group should have. He was lustful and uses the power his religion gave him for
his own good. He wanted to get Cunegonde from a Jew named Don Issachar,
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so he held an auto-da-fe to threaten Don Issachar. Many innocent people died
in the auto-da-fe just because he wanted a girl. The Grand Inquisitor’s immoral
actions demonstrated the corruption in a religion, and the abusing of religious
power.
Another example of religious leaders abusing religion is showed when
Candide went to Paraguay. In Paraguay, Candide found out the reverend
father, the Jesuit which controls that region, is his lover Cunegonde’s brother.
Nevertheless, the reverend also has a heinous characteristic. He is arrogant
and ranks himself above all other people. He is racist and refused to talk to
certain kinds of people. Also, he showed no respect when Candide entered the
room and when Candide expressed his affections towards Cunegonde only
because Candide’s social ranking is not high enough. The most important of all,
the Jesuits fought the war not because they wanted to help the native, but for
their own good. People like Candide might think the reason for fighting the war
is good, and those Jesuits are beneficial to the region. In fact those Jesuits are
actually selfish and the natives actually hate them. Voltaire used this part to
show the deceitful nature of organized religion. They would often use the name
of helping people to benefit themselves. The purpose behind their actions was
often not as good as one may think.
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Voltaire pointed out another problem within an organized religion when
Candide is at Venice. There, Candide met Brother Giroflee, and he told
Candide his story. “My parents forced me when I was fifteen years old, to put
on this detestable robe, so they could leave more money to a cursed older
brother of mine(p.58)”. At that time, many people were forced to believe a
religion, such as being baptized in an early age. In Giroflee’s case, Giroflee’s
parents see religion as a way to get money. Thus, religions loose its original
intentions.
While most of the religious characters in Candide were portrayed
negatively, there were still few exceptions. The most important one was
Jacques the Anabaptist. He is a faithful man and willing to help others. He
aided Candide and saved Pangloss. He is tolerant towards other beliefs.
Although Pangloss holds different opinions from him, he still treats Pangloss
well. Despite the fact that Jacques was one of the few good people in this story,
he did not stay alive for long. He died because saving an obnoxious sailor who
only did harm to the society. Voltaire used Jacques’ story to remind us that we
should not deny the fact that there are still good individuals within a religion.
However, those good individuals were often whether unseen by the public or
trampled by the corrupted individuals.
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Candide, the main character in this story, stands for the common people
in the society. Most people in Europe at that time were born to believe in
Christianity, just like Candide believed in Pangloss’ theory since he was small.
Also, most of the people could not see the corruption and the flaws of the
church, just as Candide continues to believe that Pangloss is right despite
everything went the opposite way. Nevertheless, in the last chapter of the story
Candide said to Pangloss after Pangloss explains his big theory “That is very
well put, but we must cultivate our garden (p.75)”. Candide finally dismisses
Pangloss’ theories and realized the importance of being practical. Voltaire
expects common people to come to the realization that there might be some
flaws in their beliefs just like Candide.
Religion is one of the main themes in Candide. Voltaire expressed his
ideas and raised opposition on certain aspects of religion. He fully
demonstrated how humanity tainted religions. By using satires and
exaggerations, Voltaire sufficiently showed the chaos and harms that
excesses and abuses of organized religion could bring to the society.