Comparing Locke And Simons: Religion And Tolerance

One a rationalized philosopher, the other more akin to an Old Testament preacher of fire and brimstone, show a surprising similarity on the subject of religion and tolerance. Locke and Simons, authors of “A Letter Concerning Toleration” and “The New Birth” respectively, lay out paths that both contradict and condemn the systems in place by the Catholic Church of their day. Comparisons can also be made on the two men’s viewpoints on the ever-increasing amount of Christian religions coming into existence, how to live a Christian life, thinking critically, and the treatment of others. Though their works were written more than a century apart, there is an obvious connection in the thought process of Locke and Simons. The Catholic Church was

The only wish is for humans to give up their ways of violence and hatred and work towards the betterment of us all. The idea of hating someone based on their point of view absolutely disgusts Locke and Simons; they believe we are all just the children of God and should cooperate together. More so than just the tolerance of religions though, they seemed to believe in offering help and understanding to anyone regardless of their background. Lastly, the most common thread in these men’s writings, besides that of living life to in the way of The Gospels, is the drive to push their readers towards thinking logically about the problems being brought up in religion. Locke and Simons bring questions up for the reader all throughout their letters. Here Simons directly addresses his audience imploring them to think about the words within The

Locke and Simons both write similarly to this and it shows that beyond just living how The Bible says to, they are telling the reader another important quality one should have within their life that of an analytical thought process so they may come to their own ideas instead of being manipulated by kings and priests. There are many questions raised within Locke’s A Letter Concerning Toleration as well and many are answered only with other questions for the reader to answer himself so that he may learn.

“The care, therefore, of every man 's soul belongs unto himself and is to be left unto himself. But what if he neglect the care of his soul? I answer: What if he neglect the care of his health or of his estate, which things are nearlier related to the government of the magistrate than the other? Will the magistrate provide by an express law that such a one shall not become poor or sick?”