Enlightenment and Religion

themes for the day

preview Enlightenment > Romanticism

Reason, Empiricism > Imagination, feelings, passion, intuition soul-speak

Community of Individuals?

Obj. 5: "literary" literature x "extra-literary" literature

Two streams of Western Civilization

"secular government, religious people"

Great Awakening

30 Years War

Revelation / Empiricism or Humanism

Jefferson, "Religion" from Notes on Virginia

1 English Church + Presbyterian brethren: equal intolerance

2 Poor Quakers

2 Free only for the reigning sect

3 other opinions creep in > dissenters

3 Government supports church > indolence in clergy

4 Error: operations of the mind < coercion of laws

4 answerable to our God

4 Rights of conscience never submitted to rulers

5 The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

5 Constraint > hypocrite

6 Reason and free inquiry > support the true religion

6 natural enemy of error, and of error only

7 Roman government > Christianity

7 Free inquiry > Reformation

7 Galileo: error prevailed

8 Newtonian principle of gravitation on basis of reason

8 Error alone requires support of government

9 difference of opinion advantageous to religion

9 Millions of innocent(s) burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; x-uniformity

10 Reason and persuasion only practicable instruments

10 But every state, says an inquisitor, has established some religion. No two, say I, have established the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments? Our sister states of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have long subsisted without any establishment [of a state religion] at all.

10 they flourish infinitely

10 fair play, reasons and laughs it out of doors

11 harmony < unbounded tolerance

11 way to silence religious disputes: take no notice

13 all downhill > sole faculty of making money

Paine, Age of Reason

1 always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine.

[2] The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason

3 publish my thoughts upon religion. I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the subject

4 France . . . total abolition of the whole national order of priesthood

5 my fellow-citizens of France

[6] I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

[7] I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy. [Cf. Franklin Autobiography 36]

[8] But, lest it should be supposed that I believe in many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.

9 My own mind is my own church.

[10] All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish [Muslim], appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

11 Infidelity [lack of faith] does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

13 a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The adulterous connection of church and state

man would return to the pure, unmixed and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more.

[14] Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals.

15 certain books, which they call revelation, or the word of God.

Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all.

16 Revelation, when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately from God to man.

17 When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.

18 Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication — after this, it is only an account of something which that person says

19 The commandments carry no internal evidence of divinity with them; they contain some good moral precepts, such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver, or a legislator, could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention.

20 Yes; there is a word of God; there is a revelation.

[21] THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD and it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man. . . . 

22 it publishes itself from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to man all that is necessary for man to know of God.

[23]  . . . That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true theology. ["natural philosophy" = 18c term for "science," i.e. the philosophy or understanding of nature]

[24] As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of human opinions and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the study of God himself in the works that he has made, but in the works or writings that man has made . . . .

25 a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences human invention

28 those things called miracles can be placed and considered, the reality of them is improbable and their existence unnecessary

29 prophecy took charge of the future and rounded the tenses of faith. It was not sufficient to know what had been done, but what would be done. The supposed prophet was the supposed historian of times to come; and if he [a prophet] happened, in shooting with a long bow of a thousand years, to strike within a thousand miles of a mark, the ingenuity of posterity could make it point-blank;

Paine, Crisis

[1] These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered

 if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth [cf. Common Sense 9]

impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God. . . .

[2] I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Almighty will not give up a people

3 the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen,

[4] Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses

[5] As I was with the troops at Fort Lee

6 if we believe the power of hell to be limited, we must likewise believe that their agents are under some providential control.

7 our retreat to the Delaware . . . though greatly harassed and fatigued, . . . bore it with a manly and martial spirit.

Voltaire has remarked that King William never appeared to full advantage but in difficulties and in action; the same remark may be made on General Washington, for the character fits him. There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude

9 unfatherly expression, "Well! give me peace in my day." . . . a generous parent should have said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;"

[10] Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them. . . .

as confident, as I am that God governs the world, that America will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion.

11 on every state: up and help us

[12] Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.

cf Plymouth Plantation ch. 11 + Harvey or other natural disasters

13 My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light. [< an exemplary deistic simile or metaphor, in which the mind corresponds to a figure from physics]

14 if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever" to his absolute will, am I to suffer [permit] it?

[15] There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one.  . . .  

16 our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians, and a future race to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it!

Paine, Common Sense

1 a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT

3 The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.

declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind

4 unconnected with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle.

5 Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness

7 necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government,

[8] A government of our own is our natural right

9 that barbarous and hellish power [the British], which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us [the Indians* and Negroes* to destroy us: Paine here isolates early American minority groups left out of the Founders' sociall contract (and in possible conspiracy with foreign agents)]

[12] There are injuries which nature cannot forgive   Romantic rhetoric

The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated from the earth, or have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. Romantic rhetoric

13 O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.

14 'Tis not in numbers but in unity that our great strength lies    [community of individuals?]

no single colony is able to support itself, and the whole, when united, is able to do any thing.

16 Can we but leave posterity with a settled form of government, an independent constitution of its own, the purchase at any price will be cheap.

17 No nation ought to be without a debt. A national debt is a national bond

18 We are sufficiently numerous, and were we more so we might be less united.

[20] As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of government to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith.

Letters by Abigail & John Adams (+ a journal note) on Benjamin Franklin

representation x reference

scene, first-hand representation

woman's voice, religion

dialogue

fiction

[1.2] very constant in his attendance on Congress . . . composed and grave . . . very reserved. . . . that the Congress should pursue their own principles and sentiments, and adopt their own plans.

[1.3] Yet he has not been backward [silent]: has been very useful on many occasions, and discovered [shown] a disposition [attitude] entirely American. He does not hesitate at our boldest measures, but rather seems to think us too irresolute and backward.

[1.4] He thinks us at present in an odd state, neither in peace nor war,

soon assume a character more decisive

the disagreeable necessity of assuming a total independency, and set up a separate state

[1.5] The people of England have thought that the opposition in America was wholly owing to Dr. Franklin; . . . but little share, further than to cooperate and to assist. He is however a great and good man.

2.1 Dr. Franklin, the latter of whom I had the pleasure of dining with, and of admiring him, whose character from my infancy I had been taught to venerate [respect]. I found him social but not talkative

blended every virtue of a Christian. For a true patriot must be a religious man.

2.2 he who neglects his duty to his Maker, may well be expected to be deficient and insincere in his duty towards the public

3.1 On the road and at all the public houses, we saw such numbers of officers and soldiers, straggling and loitering, as gave me at least, but a poor Opinion of the Discipline of our forces and excited as much indignation as anxiety. Such thoughtless dissipation [drunkenness] at a time so critical

4.1 but one bed could be procured for Dr. Franklin and me, in a chamber little larger than the bed, without a chimney and with only one small window.

[4.3] Oh! says Franklin, don’t shut the window. We shall be suffocated.

4.4 you are not acquainted with my Theory of Colds.

4.5 nobody ever got cold by going into a cold church, or any other cold air: but the theory was so little consistent with my experience

[4.6] The Doctor [Franklin] then began a harangue [long speech] upon air and cold and respiration and perspiration, with which I was so much amused that I soon fell asleep, and left him and his philosophy together: but I believe they were equally sound and insensible, within a few minutes after me, for the last words I heard were pronounced as if he was more than half asleep. . . .

cf. letter to epistolary novel: private worlds of fictional characters

Edgar Huntly

Jefferson – “Quakers were flying from persecution in England. They cast their eyes on these new countries as asylums of civil and religious freedom; but they found them free only for the reigning sect”

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

“Reason and free enquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion, by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only. “

“Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.”

“the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united”

Franklin – “I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by turns of several points, as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself. Some books against Deism—fell into my hands . . . . It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist.”

“truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life; and I formed written resolutions, which still remain in my journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. Revelation had indeed no weight with me, as such; but I entertained an opinion that, though certain actions might not be bad because they were forbidden by it, or good because it commanded them, yet probably these actions might be forbidden because they were bad for us, or commanded because they were beneficial to us, in their own natures, all the circumstances of things considered.”

Paine – “I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.

The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is Reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall. “

 “I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.

I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy.

But, lest it should be supposed that I believe in many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them. “

“Revelation, when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately from God to man…When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and consequently they are not obliged to believe it.”

“The commandments carry no internal evidence of divinity with them; they contain some good moral precepts, such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver, or a legislator, could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention.”

David Hume (1711-1776), Of Miracles from Section X of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)

1.1 the authority, either of the scripture or of tradition, is founded merely in the testimony of the Apostles, who were eye-witnesses to those miracles of our Saviour, . . . Our evidence, then, for, the truth of the Christian religion is less than the evidence for the truth of our senses [empiricism]

2 silence the most arrogant bigotry and superstition

3 experience be our only guide in reasoning concerning matters of fact; it must be acknowledged, that this guide is not altogether infallible

4] A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence.

5 no species of reasoning more common, more useful, and even necessary to human life, than that which is derived from the testimony of men, and the reports of eye-witnesses and spectators

6 the ultimate standard, by which we determine all disputes, that may arise concerning them, is always derived from experience and observation. [<empiricism] . . . .

7 We entertain a suspicion concerning any matter of fact, when the witnesses contradict each other; when they are but few, or of a doubtful character; when they have an interest in what they affirm; when they deliver their testimony with hesitation, or on the contrary, with too violent asseverations.

8 But when the fact attested is such a one as has seldom fallen under our observation, here is a contest of two opposite experiences . . . .

9] I should not believe such a story were it told me by Cato

The incredibility of a fact, it was allowed, might invalidate so great an authority. . . .

12] A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined. Why is it more than probable, that all men must die; that lead cannot, of itself, remain suspended in the air; that fire consumes wood, and is extinguished by water; unless it be, that these events are found agreeable to the laws of nature, and there is required a violation of these laws, or in other words, a miracle to prevent them? Nothing is esteemed a miracle, if it ever happen in the common course of nature. It is no miracle that a man, seemingly in good health, should die on a sudden: because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has yet been frequently observed to happen. But it is a miracle, that a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed in any age or country. . . .

13 no testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous, than the fact, which it endeavors to establish

When anyone tells me, that he saw a dead man restored to life, I immediately consider with myself, whether it be more probable, that this person should either deceive or be deceived, or that the fact, which he relates, should really have happened. I weigh the one miracle against the other

15 not to be found, in all history, any miracle attested by a sufficient number of men, of such unquestioned good-sense, education, and learning, as to secure us against all delusion in themselves; of such undoubted integrity, as to place them beyond all suspicion of any design to deceive others; of such credit and reputation in the eyes of mankind, as to have a great deal to lose in case of their being detected in any falsehood; and at the same time, attesting facts performed in such a public manner and in so celebrated a part of the world, as to render the detection unavoidable: all which circumstances are requisite to give us a full assurance in the testimony of men.

16a] The passion of surprise and wonder, arising from miracles, being an agreeable emotion, gives a sensible tendency towards the belief of those events, from which it is derived. And this goes so far, that even those who cannot enjoy this pleasure immediately, nor can believe those miraculous events, of which they are informed, yet love to partake of the satisfaction at second-hand or by rebound, and place a pride and delight in exciting the admiration of others.

17 if the spirit of religion join itself to the love of wonder, there is an end of common sense; and human testimony, in these circumstances, loses all pretensions to authority. A religionist may be an enthusiast, and imagine he sees what has no reality: he may know his narrative to be false, and yet persevere in it, with the best intentions in the world, for the sake of promoting so holy a cause

18] Eloquence, when at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection; but addressing itself entirely to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers, and subdues their understanding.

19] The many instances of forged [counterfeit] miracles, and prophecies, and supernatural events, which, in all ages, have either been detected by contrary evidence, or which detect themselves by their absurdity, prove sufficiently the strong propensity of mankind to the extraordinary and the marvellous, and ought reasonably to beget a suspicion against all relations of this kind

20] Thirdly. It forms a strong presumption against all supernatural and miraculous relations, that they are observed chiefly to abound among ignorant and barbarous nations; or if a civilized people has ever given admission to any of them, that people will be found to have received them from ignorant and barbarous ancestors, who transmitted them with that inviolable sanction and authority, which always attend received opinions.

21 that such prodigious events never happen in our days. But it is nothing strange, I hope, that men should lie in all ages.

at last been abandoned even by the vulgar. . . .

35 no testimony for any kind of miracle has ever amounted to a probability, much less to a proof

experience only, which gives authority to human testimony; and it is the same experience, which assures us of the laws of nature

38] . . . Though the Being to whom the miracle is ascribed, be, in this case, Almighty, it does not, upon that account, become a whit more probable; since it is impossible for us to know the attributes or actions of such a Being, otherwise than from the experience which we have of his productions, in the usual course of nature.

40 confound those dangerous friends or disguised enemies to the Christian Religion, who have undertaken to defend it by the principles of human reason. Our most holy religion is founded on Faith, not on reason; and it is a sure method of exposing it to put it to such a trial as it is, by no means, fitted to endure.

41 conclude, that the Christian Religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: and whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience.

Questions –

What’s your opinion on their reasons for separating the church from the institution of a government they were trying to establish? Was it good? Has it worked?

Why do you think these “Founding Fathers” felt the need to make their religious views public?

Hume presentation

Hume 1.1 the authority, either of the scripture or of tradition, is founded merely in the testimony of the Apostles, who were eye-witnesses to those miracles of our Saviour, . . . Our evidence, then, for, the truth of the Christian religion is less than the evidence for the truth of our senses [empiricism]

Paine 18 Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication — after this, it is only an account of something which that person says

Jefferson 5 The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

Hume 12 A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature; and as a firm and unalterable experience has established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argument from experience can possibly be imagined. Why is it more than probable, that all men must die; that lead cannot, of itself, remain suspended in the air; that fire consumes wood, and is extinguished by water; unless it be, that these events are found agreeable to the laws of nature, and there is required a violation of these laws, or in other words, a miracle to prevent them? Nothing is esteemed a miracle, if it ever happen in the common course of nature. It is no miracle that a man, seemingly in good health, should die on a sudden: because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has yet been frequently observed to happen. But it is a miracle, that a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed in any age or country. . . .

Paine 20 Yes; there is a word of God; there is a revelation.

[21] THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD and it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man. . . . 

Hume [41] What we have said of miracles may be applied, without any variation, to prophecies; and indeed, all prophecies are real miracles, and as such only, can be admitted as proofs of any revelation. If it did not exceed the capacity of human nature to foretell future events, it would be absurd to employ any prophecy as an argument for a divine mission or authority from heaven. So that, upon the whole, we may conclude, that the Christian Religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one. Mere reason is insufficient to convince us of its veracity: and whoever is moved by Faith to assent to it, is conscious of a continued miracle in his own person, which subverts all the principles of his understanding, and gives him a determination to believe what is most contrary to custom and experience.

cf. William Law (1686-1761)