Voltaire on Abbé

Voltaire I-I

Voltaire, oh my poor lost soul Voltaire. Upon reading Candide I find myself shaking my head. Such a brilliant wit, such a brilliant mind, so full of negativity. The Pangloss you have employed so well is unfortunately a straw man. But, your work is of no doubt, genius. You have made the Western Canon and you are still taught today to be imitated by lesser minds with more dangerous and disastrous consequences. While your jaded confrontations have spurned meaningful reform and your pointed criticisms has caused a great deal of informed debate, in the hands of the unscrutinized mind you have created the exact opposite of what you intended. Rather than creating thinking minds, critical of everything you have created critics of no accord. They spew vile without an intention for change, only hoping to uphold the status quo. But, alas, whenever I pick up a book of yours I find myself reading until the very end, such is your work of great talent and skill. My thoughts on your magnum opus will come later. For now let us suffice by growing through your Dictionnaire philosophique.

Abbé, Monsier l'Abbé

'Tis true the corruption of the true doctrine of Christ is brought about by vicious and selfish men. The fathers of monks in our days had grown envious of the bishops and the power and wealth they had. The fathers of monks had grown rich beyond what ought to have been proper to them. Today, as I look around the Christian landscape I see many of the abuses that plagued our days. There is rampant selfishness, wanton abuse of power, and shameless twisting of Scripture. You rightly forewarned these men, "tremble, lest the day of reason arrive".

The day of reason has arisen and the power of the Church and the true Gospel has waned in the eyes of men. But that reason, once a champion of the oppressed has become itself the oppressor. Everywhere the men of faith face challenges once thought long abolished by Roman Emperors (whose reasons may or may not have been godly and motivated by love of Christ). The proud secular heritage of the newest endowment of France, the Republic and the Indoctrinating cry of separation of Church and State served well to curb the powers of corrupt bishops and abbés. But now that secularizing has left men corrupt themselves.

Voltaire, you railed against the oppression of the weak by the strong. You harangued against intolerance where ever you perceived it. Now, as the secularists push religion to the margins of society are you satisfied? I think not. I think that your tolerance, such a valiant goal in theory has given birth to a very unfortunate consequence. The association between religion and oppression has been hammered too hard and now faith is synonymous with uncritical assessments of life. But, I wonder, how many uncritical minds have come to this conclusion? However, what remains still in spite of the undiscriminating skepticism of this age is thankfully, faith, hope and love. Optimism has already won the day.