François-Marie Arouet, otherwise known by his pen name as, ‘Voltaire,’ was born to a prosperous French family in Paris on November 21, 1694. When Voltaire was only 7 years old, his mother passed away. This contributed to a growing relationship with his free-thinking grandfather, who influenced him significantly in his youth. Although Voltaire had aspirations to become a writer and playwright like his idols Molière, Racine, and Corneille, his father met this idea with aversion and soon imparted his own plans on the young Voltaire. François senior had aspirations of his son becoming a public authority, thus in 1704, the young François-Marie was enrolled at Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris. It was there at the Jesuit school in Paris where François-Marie …show more content…
Like his deist counterparts, Voltaire was a strict opponent of organized religion but he was a huge advocate for religious toleration. The basis of his treatise was that humans were only a minor aspect of God’s creation and that they should stop unnecessary religious feuding and join together to form one united group that praised the one all-powerful creator. Voltaire expressed his opinion of organized religion with his example of the two individuals. The first person said to the other, “hearken to me, for the God of all these worlds has enlightened me. There are about nine hundred millions of us little insects who inhabit the earth, but my ant-hill is alone cherished by God, who holds all the rest in horror and detestation; those who live with me upon my spot will alone be happy, and all the rest eternally wretched.” The point Voltaire was making with this example was that a perfect God would not tolerate and protect one group of individuals yet, condemn the rest of the population. This example shows the absurdity of organized religions that detested and warred against other religions. Voltaire believed that everyone should always be tolerant of one another because God’s intent was for humanity to use their gifted ability to reason and acquire knowledge instead of fight with one another over false ideas and