John Locke Religious Toleration Essay

Hobbes and Locke both abandoned the thought of the divine right of monarchy. Both did not agree with the fact that the ruler or assembly would have all power over its citizens. So basically they were against Absolutism and their views were that of rebels in their time period. Theses two philosophers both held similar ideas but also have conflicting ideas pertaining to the citizens "social contract" with their rulers, "Natural Condition of Mankind," and sovereignty.

James Madison strongly believed and supported increasing national power of government and that led him to establish his model known as Madison’s model. James Madison’s design to maximize liberty and still allow the government to govern is proven through the four component parts of Madison’s model. These four components include separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and republicanism. The philosophies of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes influenced Madison in a way that allowed him to have both liberty and order at the same time. John Locke believed in individual liberty and freedom from the government whilst Thomas Hobbes believed that the state of nature is that people are born selfish. These two philosophers managed to influence Madison because Madison wanted liberty but also wanted order and that was mentioned in Hobbes’s theory of a strong leader which provided order.

When there are no laws, there are no freedoms, hence, the Patriots and the Loyalists have to join together in order for the colonies to be prosperous. I, Thomas Tredwell, live in Smithtown, Suffolk County, Long Island. I was raised on a farm, but attended Princeton to study law. As a farmer and a lawyer, I understand both the Patriots’ and the Loyalists’ opinions. My fellow farmers are in debt and are struggling to make an income. The courts are closed in Manhattan, which is creating disarray. For the sake of a better state, the courts and ports should be open. I am very passionate about John Locke’s laws stated in the Second Treatise of Government and I value others opinions greatly. I agree with the Patriots’ and Loyalists’ opinions and deem Locke’s principles about liberty and order important for a society.

As stated before, Locke determined that the purpose of government is to protect life, liberty and property. In chapter IX, he gave us the basic concept of government. “First, there wants an established, settled, know law, received and allowed by common consent to be the standard of right and wrong, and the common measure to decide all controversies between them (P. 124). This, as he described later, is the legislative branch. He goes into more detail in chapter XI. “Secondly, there wants a

In his self-authored epitaph, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) describes himself as the “author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the statute for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia.” (Collins 37). Jefferson is established in American history for his accomplishments and beliefs that have had a tremendous impact on the meaning and understanding of religion today. Known as the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, one of the first people of his time to push religious independence and disestablishment, among many other achievements, such as serving the United States as the third President. Jefferson is widely recognized as an extremely

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, both had an impact on influencing the development of liberal ideology. Due to this, the term “rights” is now prevalent everywhere in politics. “Natural rights” is the principle in which, every individual is born with rights and these cannot be removed by force or law. It is the entitlement to act or to be treated in a specific way. The essential human law of nature is the preservation of mankind. In order to maintain stability in society, Locke exclaimed humans should have a right and duty to live peacefully without any threat.

The Enlightenment of the 18th century evolved due to the many changes brought about by the Scientific Revolution. With all of the new scientific discoveries, new thought processes were developed. The scientists of the Scientific Revolution brought about revolutionary change. These scientists inspired the philosophes of the Enlightenment to challenge the ways of the "Old Regime" and question the ideas of the church. Philosophers such as Francois Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke published their controversial ideas and these ideas along with some important political action, helped to mold a new type of society. The new society was one that tolerated different religious beliefs. "The minds of men, abandoning the old disciplines

Firstly, he argues that the "Care of Souls" cannot be entrusted to a Magistrate more than any other man.  People are individually responsible for their own salvation, and no man has been given a natural authority over another man's salvation.  After all, according to the dominant religious traditions, all men are equal in the eyes of God.  Even in the absence of natural authority, one cannot even confer an artificial authority to a Magistrate.  Why?  Because salvation is an individual responsibility.  But what if the Magistrate were to enact a law contrary to religious belief?  In such a case, civil obedience would mean hypocrisy - and this would be immoral.  One must never be made to choose between religion and state.  Secondly, the Magistracy wields only an outward force, whereas true salvation lies in one's inward resolve.  He writes:  "Such is the nature of the Understanding, that it cannot be compell'd [sic] to the belief of any thing by outward force."2  Moreover, enjoining righteousness is not the monopoly of the Magistracy; it is a right belonging to all people.  Thirdly, Locke argues that with so much disparity between religious opinions, all states would be in conflict.  In such cases, he argues:

The freedom of religion is important to us because it lets us learn our religion freely so we don't have to worry about the country saying. “We are going to only have the religion of the church of England.” or something like that. “ In some instances, they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the Civil authority; in many instances, they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people.”(THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE: A CHECK ON RELIGIOUS TYRANNY) This talks about how different religions were getting spiritual tyranny. The people didn't have liberties and were forced to follow one religion or they would’ve been criticised. “For him, America was not a “Christian nation,” but rather should recognize the equality of all believers, whether “Jews, Turks, Pagans [or] Christians.” “Government should protect every man in thinking and speak freely, and see that one does not abuse another.” He proposed an amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution in 1794 because of the “evils . . .

This excerpt, by James I of England, was also about absolute monarchy. He explains a good king will subject and frame his action and believes that God chooses the kings (gods by God). He states that kings are called God and they are compared to father of families according to scripture. He believes that kings should choose their actions according to their laws and that they need to be faithful. He, also, defended Catholics.

When considering knowledge, Locke is interested in the ability for us to know something, the capacity of gathering and using information and understanding the limits of what we know. He believes this also leads him to realise what we perhaps, cannot know. [1] He wants to find out about the origin of our ideas. His main stand-point is that we don’t have innate ideas and he aims to get rid of the sceptical doubt about what we know. The innate ideas which Locke sets out to argue against are those which “the soul receives in its very first being, and brings into the world with it”. [2] “Let us suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters”. [3] This quote depicts the idea of the “Tabula Rasa”, that at birth are minds

John Locke and Thomas Hobbes both believe that men are equal in the state of nature, but their individual opinions about equality lead them to propose fundamentally different methods of proper civil governance. Locke argues that the correct form of civil government should be concerned with the common good of the people, and defend the citizenry’s rights to life, health, liberty, and personal possessions. Hobbes argues that the proper form of civil government must have an overarching ruler governing the people in order to avoid the state of war. I agree with Locke’s argument because it is necessary for a civil government to properly care for its citizens, which in turn prevents the state of war from occurring in society. Locke also has a

On the other hand, unlike the other freedoms mentioned, religious freedom addresses a different type of need. It addresses the concept of personal fulfillment, or perhaps, self-realization. Religion attempts to give answers to basic questions: From where did the world come? What is the meaning of human life? Why do people die and what happens afterward? Why is there evil? How should people behave? As a word religion is difficult to define, but as a human experience it seems to be universal. The 20th-century German-born American theologian, Paul Tillich, gave a simple and basic definition of the word: "Religion is ultimate concern." This means that religion includes that to which people are most devoted or that from which they expect to get the most satisfaction in life. Consequently, religion provides adequate answers to the basic afore mentioned questions.

There are two sides of the Liberal Theory of Justice which are represented by John Locke and John Rawls – Locke being on the liberal side while Rawls is more on the equalitarian side. Each agrees that man is an individual with rights given to him because of his mere existence. Even though Rawls, who came later, does build on Locke and their views are quite similar, they still have some disagreements on what these rights mean and how they should be handled.

respect to religion: the right to be free from government-imposed religion and a right to practice