How Did Voltaire Spread The Ideals Of The Enlightenment

The eighteenth century was an era in which cultural and intellectual forces, as well as reason and analysis were extremely important and emphasized throughout everyday life. It was encouraged by philosophers to challenge powerful authorities, authorities like the Catholic Church. Famous texts such as the "Encyclopedie," The Social Contract," and "Wealth Of Nations" all helped and were revolutionary in spreading the ideals of the Enlightenment. Religion in the Enlightenment period was enormous. Critical of the church and the corruption within it, was a philosopher by the name of Francois-Marie Arouet. Better known as "Voltaire."

Enlightenment era religion was a response to the previous century of the religious conflict in Europe, especially
the Thirty Years' War. Before learning about the French Enlightenment, one must first understand the events that led up to the power that would be the Catholic Church. In the 16th and 17th century, France was engulfed by religious wars that stemmed mainly between the Protestants and Catholics. The power that was growing caused the French Monarchy to flip, and the Nobility in France was a threat. Because of this, the monarchs had no choice but to side with the Protestants or Catholics. In the end, the Catholics would emerge victorious, controlling most of the power. This is why the Catholic Church had such an enormous impact on its citizens. Enlightenment scholars such as Thomas Jefferson and John Locke sought to remove the political power associated with organized religion and prevent another age of intolerant wars solely based on religion. Religion was taking a hit by religious radical thinkers, they began to challenge the authority of religious institutions, while also challenging the existence of moral standards.

Voltaire was one of the most intelligent, and influential philosophers of the Enlightenment era, and was also amongst those who challenged the religious and social standards.
He earned a name for himself as a respected political and literary figure. Voltaire admired the English system of government, writing that "The English are the only people on earth who have been able to prescribe limits to the power of kings by resisting them, and who be a series of struggles, have at last established that wise Government, where the Prince is all powerful to do good and at the same time is restrained from committing evil." Voltaire, considered himself a Deist, he did not believe that faith alone, based upon any religious text or tradition of revelation, was necessary to believe in God. He wrote, "It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason". While he was not an atheist, he was opposed to organized religion, which was what the Catholic Church was built off of. He was very critical of Catholicism, and believed that the bible was outdated. He believed the Bible was a work of man and not a divine spirit, which obviously gained him a negative reputation amongst the Catholic Church. One of Voltaire's main beliefs was that humans who were capable of understanding the rights and wrongs of others' actions through their own reasoning. And once we take responsibility for our actions, only
then would we be exposed to the proper course and would do so based on their free will. In his very famous novel "Candide," Voltaire often criticizes the religious beliefs that were popular at the time. Criticism's were blatantly revealed throughout the entire story. Examples such as the kindness of the Anabaptists that Candide met showed the silliness of religious prejudices. The old woman's story of her father, Pope Urban X, and the rich life she lived as a child shows the corruption of the Catholic clergy. Anabaptists were often persecuted and frowned upon because of their ridiculously radical religious beliefs. Voltaire made fun of this idea with his over the top description of kindness of an Anabaptist by the name of James. His famous novel of Candide was filled with satirical evidence. Unfortunately, Voltaire didn't exactly formulate a solution to resolve the problems that he had with Religion and the Church. He only addressed the issues, mainly in his novels. Granted, he was able to popularize his ideals and make philosophy more widespread, but never really offered a true step by step solution on how to develop ourselves and tap in to our true potentials as a society. One of his biggest concerns was that he did not believe that we live in the best of all possible worlds, rather, we live in a world that can actually be drastically improved. Although he agreed with the church, only in the sense that acknowledging god is definitely important, he still believed that religion should be a more rationalistic kind. Organized religious groups was frowned upon by him. Religion may have played a role as to why Voltaire had written Candide in the first place.
It was a satire of the prevalent philosophical optimism by Gottfried Willhelm Leibniz. Voltaire was also moved by events like The Seven Years' War, and the 1775 Lisbon earthquake. He felt like optimism was a naive and irregular way of viewing the world. Throughout Candide, he deconstructs optimism by writing its ingenuous beliefs with the true horrors of reality. He was not fond of the idea of the Church having its followers under its complete demand and insisting that everything that occurred in their lives was all in the hands of God. He believed that we, as humans are much more
capable.
At the end of his tenure, Voltaire believed that we can improve our standards of living tremendously, but in order for us to do that, we must take matters into our own hands and not completely rely on religion, or God to accommodate us throughout our lives. He was exiled more than once for allegedly offending the government with his satirical writings about freedom rights. He believed in a complete reform for the better of the people. Voltaire will always be honored and remembered as an important figure in France as a courageous polemicist who fought for civil rights, fair trial, freedom of speech and religion. He exposes the injustices of the Ancien Regime. which involved a balance that was unfair, dealing with the power and taxes between the clergy, the nobles, and the middle class. Voltaire saw the French middle class as too small, useless, and ineffective, the aristocracy as a blood sucking parasite, the commoners as ignorant, and the church as a static force useful only to provide for the revolutionaries.