Religious Debate In Candide

Joshua Mills

Mrs. Nannette Crane-Post

World Lit II

16 February 2017

Candide and Motive to Religious Debate

Candide is an unusual name and not always heard of in today’s society. The French word “Candide,” implies honesty, innocence, and purity. We as people imply religion in a very similar way, like for example honesty, innocence, and purity are looked at as divine. In Voltaire’s “Candide,” views on religion are a whole different perspective. Voltaire’s Novel is pretty frank with the view on life having the best of all possible worlds as a mockery toward society’s views in the 1700s. The fact that good and bad alike suffer and die are proof in Voltaire’s view that God is not in Charge. In “Candide,” the attack on religion and philosophy are

Voltaire also believed in Deism. Deism is the belief that God is a Clock maker who set the world in motion and the stood back to watch it tick. ”A rational and benevolent deity would only design what Voltaire lampooned as “the best of all possible worlds,” and all earthly injustice and suffering was either merely apparent or would be rectified in the hereafter.”(Stalloff)

Religion is one of the central targets of Voltaire’s mockery. Outside of the fantasy world of El Dorado, religion is consistently shown as corrupting and morally questioned. Religious figures in ”Candide” such as the Protestant minister, the Inquisitor, and the Jesuit Baron are often self-righteous and less inclined to charity than their secular counterparts. The one exception to Voltaire’s satire is James the Anabaptist. This stems from the fact that the Anabaptists were highly unpopular and persecuted at the time of Voltaire’s

This criticism is closely tied to the criticism of optimism in the story. Many religions believe that God is benevolent and has a higher purpose for the things that happen. However, Candide sees the worst in the world through his travels, showing that it is foolish to believe that a benevolent God exists. Religious irony is also used in showing the moral standard of religious officials and making them look foolish. A friar steals, a monk buys a prostitute, and a Jew buys a woman for a sex slave. Voltaire points these aspects out throughout the story. ”Candide” identifies the dismay of the churches and the practice the brought in the age of Voltaire’s life. “Catholic authorities burn heretics alive, priests and governors extort sexual favors from their female subjects, businessmen mistreat slaves, and Candide himself is drafted into and abused in the army of the Bulgar king. Even the English government, which Voltaire admired, executes an admiral for the “crime” of fighting with insufficient audacity against the French. Powerful institutions seem to do no good—and instead, much harm—to their defenseless