Divinity has revealed itself in the different parts of our globe in a
manner of such little uniformity, that in matters of religion men look
upon each other with hatred and disdain. The partisans of the different
sects see each other very ridiculous and foolish. The most respected
mysteries in one religion are laughable for another. God, having
revealed Himself to men, ought at least to speak in the same language to
all, and relieve their weak minds of the embarrassment of seeking what
can be the religion which truly emanated from Him, or what is the most
agreeable form of worship in His eyes.
A universal God ought to have revealed a universal religion. By what
fatality are so many different religions found on the earth? Which is
the true one amongst the great number of those of which each one
pretends to be the right one, to the exclusion of all the others? We
have every reason to believe that not one of them enjoys this advantage.
The divisions and the disputes about opinions are indubitable signs of
the uncertainty and of the obscurity of the principles which they
profess.
CXV.--THE PROOF THAT RELIGION IS NOT NECESSARY, IS THAT IT IS
UNINTELLIGIBLE.
If religion was necessary to all men, it ought to be intelligible to all
men. If this religion was the most important thing for them, the
goodness of God, it seems, ought to make it for them the clearest, the
most evident, and the best demonstrated of all things. Is it not
astonishing to see that this matter, so essential to the salvation of
mortals, is precisely the one which they understand the least, and about
which, during so many centuries, their doctors have disputed the most?
Never have priests, of even the same sect, come to an agreement among
themselves about the manner of understanding the wishes of a God who has
truly revealed Himself to them. The world which we inhabit can be
compared to a public place, in whose different parts several charlatans
are placed, each one straining himself to attract customers by
depreciating the remedies offered by his competitors. Each stand has its
purchasers, who are persuaded that their empiric alone possesses the
good remedies; notwithstanding the continual use which they make of
them, they do not perceive that they are no better, or that they are
just as sick as those who run after the charlatans of another stand.
Devotion is a disease of the imagination, contracted in infancy; the
devotee is a hypochondriac, who increases his disease by the use of
remedies. The wise man takes none of it; he follows a good regimen and
leaves the rest to nature.
CXVI.--ALL RELIGIONS ARE RIDICULED BY THOSE OF OPPOSITE THOUGH EQUALLY
INSANE BELIEF.
Nothing appears more ridiculous in the eyes of a sensible man than for
one denomination to criticize another whose creed is equally foolish. A
Christian thinks that the Koran, the Divine revelation announced by
Mohammed, is but a tissue of impertinent dreams and impostures injurious
to Divinity. The Mohammedan, on his side, treats the Christian as an
idolater and a dog; he sees but absurdities in his religion; he imagines
he has the right to conquer his country and force him, sword in hand, to
accept the faith of his Divine prophet; he believes especially that
nothing is more impious or more unreasonable than to worship a man or to
believe in the Trinity. The Protestant Christian, who without scruple
worships a man, and who believes firmly in the inconceivable mystery of
the Trinity, ridicules the Catholic Christian because the latter
believes in the mystery of the transubstantiation. He treats him as a
fool, as ungodly and idolatrous, because he kneels to worship the bread
in which he believes he sees the God of the universe. All the Christian
denominations agree in considering as folly the incarnation of the God
of the Indies, Vishnu. They contend that the only true incarnation is
that of Jesus, Son of the God of the universe and of the wife of a
carpenter. The theist, who calls himself a votary of natural religion,
is satisfied to acknowledge a God of whom he has no conception; indulges
himself in jesting upon other mysteries taught by all the religions of
the world.