The Facade of Piety The Church, perpetrator of religious persecution and intolerance of differing opinions of belief, this is the Church that Voltaire knew in his time. Often making satires of the Church through his various works with one of the most notable being Candide. Candide shows the various negative aspects of the Church with their traditional leaders being corrupt and immoral. These men tainted the Church and abuse their power; Voltaire grouped them into individuals that act the exact opposite of the religious doctrine. Through this hypocrisy, Voltaire provides a message that the core values of the Church is not what he wanted to satirize but the men who abuse the powers granted by religion to fulfill their own desires. These men
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The book depicts Jacque as the exact opposite of corruption and greed by having him “witnessed this cruel and ignominious treatment of one of his fellow men, a… bipod who had a soul... took him to his home” (4, 22). Because the religious affiliation of Jacque was persecuted and excommunicated by the Church. It implies that Jacque was also persecuted and yet still keep one of the core principles of his faith, to care for his fellow brother and sisters. This is reminiscent of the Christian faith in its origin being persecuted by the Pharisees but instead of being extinguished, it only grew by the most persecuted of practitioners. Now the Church being juxtaposed as the Pharisees and Jacques loyalty to his faith demonstrates the hypocrisy that has become apart of the Church officials and leader. Even though he proves his conviction, he has a conflict with the way society runs with him saying that men “must have corrupted nature a little, because they weren’t born wolves, yet they become wolves” (4, 25). This reflects that Jacque is not blind to the realities of the world but brings questions of free will and God being in the same existent. Jacque relies on his doctrine that God always had a plan yet it's the individual that answers gain their faith in God. However, Jacque was short-lived and died helping a sailor that disrespected his sacrifice. The swiftness in killing Jacque reflects …show more content…
The utopian society Eldorado have this system and one of them tells Candide “we are all priests. The King and all the heads of families sing solemn canticles of thanksgiving every morning” (18, 63), showing a society that has achieved religious bliss. However, this way is unrealistic in Voltaire’s world for out of all the places Candide traveled to, he can only find the ideal way to worship God in a society that is non-existent. For man will always have wants and need for power, not the need to give thanks to God for their place. This reflects the idealized people of Eldorado, who instead pray for good fortune, thank the Lord for what he granted them. This indicates that being united in giving thanks to God, that they do not have religious strife by having differing views. For Voltaire only knew of an age of religious turmoil and divide. Thousands dead for disagreements showed Voltaire that religion is only beneficial to society through unity not the conflicts between children of God. However, that is unfeasible for men would always find conflict fueled by their own jealousy and
The book depicts Jacque as the exact opposite of corruption and greed by having him “witnessed this cruel and ignominious treatment of one of his fellow men, a… bipod who had a soul... took him to his home” (4, 22). Because the religious affiliation of Jacque was persecuted and excommunicated by the Church. It implies that Jacque was also persecuted and yet still keep one of the core principles of his faith, to care for his fellow brother and sisters. This is reminiscent of the Christian faith in its origin being persecuted by the Pharisees but instead of being extinguished, it only grew by the most persecuted of practitioners. Now the Church being juxtaposed as the Pharisees and Jacques loyalty to his faith demonstrates the hypocrisy that has become apart of the Church officials and leader. Even though he proves his conviction, he has a conflict with the way society runs with him saying that men “must have corrupted nature a little, because they weren’t born wolves, yet they become wolves” (4, 25). This reflects that Jacque is not blind to the realities of the world but brings questions of free will and God being in the same existent. Jacque relies on his doctrine that God always had a plan yet it's the individual that answers gain their faith in God. However, Jacque was short-lived and died helping a sailor that disrespected his sacrifice. The swiftness in killing Jacque reflects …show more content…
The utopian society Eldorado have this system and one of them tells Candide “we are all priests. The King and all the heads of families sing solemn canticles of thanksgiving every morning” (18, 63), showing a society that has achieved religious bliss. However, this way is unrealistic in Voltaire’s world for out of all the places Candide traveled to, he can only find the ideal way to worship God in a society that is non-existent. For man will always have wants and need for power, not the need to give thanks to God for their place. This reflects the idealized people of Eldorado, who instead pray for good fortune, thank the Lord for what he granted them. This indicates that being united in giving thanks to God, that they do not have religious strife by having differing views. For Voltaire only knew of an age of religious turmoil and divide. Thousands dead for disagreements showed Voltaire that religion is only beneficial to society through unity not the conflicts between children of God. However, that is unfeasible for men would always find conflict fueled by their own jealousy and