by Jean Meslier
Is there any so fantastic opinion (omitting the gross impostures of religions, with which we see so many great nations, and so many understanding men, so strangely besotted; for this being beyond the reach of human reason, any error is more excusable in such as are not endued, through the divine bounty, with an extraordinary illumination from above), but, of other opinions, are there any so extravagant, that she has not planted and established for laws in those parts of the world upon which she has been pleased to exercise her power?
And, he continues[54],
I do believe, that no so absurd or ridiculous fancy can enter into human imagination, that does not meet with some example of public practice, and that, consequently, our reason does not ground and back up on some semblance of reason or pretended miracles. For miracles appear to be so, according to our ignorance of nature, and not according to the essence of nature.
Effectively, there is no opinion so false or erroneous that it has not found supporters, nor is there any practice so extravagant that it has not been authorized somewhere[55]: the case of the augurs fits this condition; and the reason for that is because “the truth and lies are faced alike; their port, taste, and proceedings are the same, and we look upon them with the same eye[56].” This is why most men love to lie and are not content merely to utter lies, but they are also quite content to hear them and enjoy it when others amuse them with pure nonsense, or when they tell themselves such things. This is because they find benefit in such things.
And Lucian says[57]:
Many, even quite great personalities, are not only pleased to deceive others, but also to trick themselves; which causes me astonishment mixed with some degree of indignation, for, to say nothing of the poets who are almost always spinning fables, we do not have, he says, historians like Ctesias, Herodotus, and many others who are not content with abusing the trust of those of their age, but have wanted also to consign their fables to posterity, but can we, he says, allow the poets even that Saturn castrates his father, that Venus was engendered in sea-foam, that Prometheus was attached to a cross on mount Caucasus, where he is exposed to an eagle who continually eats his liver, that the giants wage war on the gods, not to mention their tragedies, hells, and the varied metamorphoses of Jupiter, and an infinity of other nonsensical ideas, aside from what they say about chimeras, gorgons, cyclops and other such reveries made to frighten little children. Again, we may forgive the poets and ancient historians who had nothing better in those days to tell us about; but what can we say or think of entire nations, like the Cretans when they show people Jupiter’s tomb and the Athenians when they say that Erichthonius and their ancestors sprang up from the Earth like cabbages, would these need to be planted again? The Thebans are even more extravagant when they claim they were born of serpents’ teeth: yet, those among them who refuse to believe these and other presumptions, are seen as impious, as if they were attacking the Gods and doubting their power; so much credence has untruth gained with mankind. As for me, I forgive those cities do so to ennoble their origins; but to see philosophers who labor in pursuit of truth, happily listening to fables of this kind as if they were infallible, that I cannot comprehend and find completely ridiculous and insufferable; for I just returned from Thebes, where I heard so much garbage spoken that I had to leave, being unable to endure either those who were hawking it, or those who enjoyed listening to it.
At the beginning of the Christian church, enchanters and heretics disturbed it a great deal by various impostures, says the author of the Chronicles; it would take too long to share so many other testimonies of this sort. What I’ve already said is enough to plainly show that all religions are only human inventions, and consequently, that everything they teach and oblige us to believe as supernatural and divine is nothing but error, lies, illusion, and imposture; the errors of those who are too easily convinced of things which neither are nor ever were true, or which are not as they say; the illusions of those who think they see and to understand things which are not true; the lies of those who speak of such things contrary to their own knowledge and understanding, and finally, the imposture of those who invent and retail in them, in order to impose on others and make them believe what they want, which is certainly and so clearly true that our idolatrous God-cultists and Christ-cultists themselves cannot to disagree with this, which is the reason why each of them confesses with one voice that there is truly nothing other than error, illusion, deceit, and imposture in all religions but theirs; this being the case, you can already see, most religions are clearly recognized to be false. So, the only remaining task is to find out whether, among as many false sects and false religions as the world contains, there might be some at least that are true, or which might prove to be truer than the rest, and to be truly of divine institution.
9. NONE OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS IS OF DIVINE INSTITUTION.
But, since there is no individual sect of religion which does not claim to be truly based on the authority of God, and which does not claim to be completely free of all the errors, illusions, deceptions, and impostures found in the rest, it is incumbent on those who presume to establish or maintain the truth of their own sect to show that it truly is of divine institution, and each of them respectively must show, by proofs and testimonies which are so clear, so sure, and so convincing that nobody can reasonably and prudently doubt them: for, if the proofs and testimonies they offer are anything less than this, they will, at best, be forever liable to error, illusion, and deception; consequently, they will not be sufficient witnesses of truth, and nobody will be expected to lend them credence. So, if any of those who say that their religion is of divine institution cannot provide clear proofs and testimonies of this fact, this, per se, is a clear, sure, and convincing proof that none are truly of divine institution, and consequently, we should say and hold it for certain that all of them are only human inventions, and that they are full of errors, illusions, and deceit. For it is not credible that a God who is supposed to be all-powerful, infinitely good, and infinitely wise, would choose to give laws and ordinances to men, but that these wouldn’t also bear more sure, authentic, and veritable marks and testimonies than those of the impostors which are so abundant in the world; and yet, none of our God-cultists or Christ-cultists of any stripe can show by clear, sure and convincing proofs that their religion is truly of divine institution: and, as proof of this fact, you can see that, after so many centuries, all of them remain in debate and argumentation on this point, each against the other, even to the point of persecuting each other, even to the point of fire and blood, in support of their opinion, and yet not one of them has been able to convince and persuade their opponents by such testimonies of truth: however, there will never be such things; if arguments did exist somewhere, i.e., proofs, or clear, certain, and convincing testimonies of divine institution. For, since nobody in any party or religious sect (that is, none of those who are wise, enlightened, and honest), since, I say, there is nobody who claims to support and favor error and lies, and since each and every one of them claims to be telling the truth, the true means of banishing all error, and of uniting all men peacefully in the same views, and under a single form of religion, one of them must produce these clear, sure, and convincing testimonies of the truth, and show them, by this means, that this or that religion, and not the rest, is truly of divine institution. Then, everyone, or at least all the wise, could accept these clear and convincing testimonies of truth, and nobody would dare to resist them, or embrace error and imposture, while at the same time being convinced by clear, certain, and convincing testimonies of the opposite truth. But, since these clear, sure and convincing testimonies of divine institution are not found in any religion, and since they are no more present on one side than the other, this gives room for impostors to invent and imposingly maintain all sorts of untruth and imposture; this is why they believe blindly, each stubbornly clinging to his party in defense of his own religion; and it is, at the same time, a clear and convincing proof that all of their r
eligions are false and that none of them are truly of divine institution; and consequently, I was right to tell you, my dear friends, that all the world’s religions are only human inventions, and that there is nothing but error, abuse, vanity, illusion, deceit, lies, and imposture in all that is said, and all that is practiced in the world with respect to the worship and adoration of the Gods. This is the first proof that I intended to give you, which, among those of its kind, is certainly as clear, powerful, and convincing as it could possibly be. But there are others, too, which will be no less so, and which will do no less to reveal the falseness of the religions and particularly the falseness of our Christian religion. For, since it is by these means, my dear friends, that you are held captive to countless sorts of errors and superstitions, and as I would like to be able to disabuse you and give you a way to grant your minds and consciences peace from the false fears and false hopes they give you, of the goods and evils of a so-called other life, I will mainly focus on clearly showing you the vanity and falseness of your religion; which will be sufficient to disabuse you no less of all the others, since, given the falseness of your own, which is claimed to be so pure, holy, and divine, you may easily judge that the rest are also vain and false.
10. THE SECOND PROOF OF THE VANITY AND FALSENESS OF THE RELIGIONS. FAITH, WHICH IS A BLIND BELIEF AND WHICH SERVES AS A BASIS FOR ALL THE RELIGIONS IS ONLY A PRINCIPLE OF ERRORS, ILLUSIONS, AND IMPOSTURE.
Faith, which serves as the basis for all religions, is nothing but a principle of errors, illusions, and imposture. Here is how I approach it. Any religion which establishes as the basis of its mysteries, and which takes as the rule of its doctrine and morality, a principle which is erroneous, illusory, deceptive, and productive of eternal divisions between mankind, cannot be a true religion, or truly be of divine institution; however, every religion, and principally the Christian religion, establishes as the basis of their mysteries and the rule of their doctrine and morality an erroneous, illusory, and deceptive principle. Thus, etc. I fail to see how anyone can deny the first proposition of this argument, which is too clear and obvious to be doubted. Therefore, I will now prove the second one: that all the religions, and principally the Christian religion, establishes as the basis of their mysteries and take as the rule of their doctrine and morality a principle of error, illusion, and imposture; this seems easy to show clearly; for it is plain and obvious that all the religions, especially the Christian one, establish as the basis of their mysteries and take as the rule for their doctrine and morality what they call Faith, that is, a blind belief, but which is also a firm and assured belief in some Divinity, as also a blind yet firm and assured belief in certain laws or certain divine revelations. And they must necessarily suppose all of this; for it’s this belief in some Divinity and some divine revelation which gives them all the credit and all the authority that they have in the world, without which nobody would pay any attention to what they might teach or what they might command people to do. This is why there is no such thing as a religion that does not command its followers, above all else, to be firm in their faith; that is, to be firm and immobile in their belief. This is why all theists, and especially the Christians, teach that faith is the beginning and foundation of salvation, and that it is the root of all justice and all sanctification, as is noted in the Council of Trent[58]. They say that without Faith it is impossible to please God; since, they add, whoever wishes to approach God should first believe that there is a God and that he will reward those who seek him[59]. It is therefore manifest and plain, as I’ve said, that all religions, and especially the Christian religion, establish as the basis of their mysteries and take as the rule of their doctrine and morality, Faith, which is, as I’ve said, a belief in some Divinity, and even a blind belief in certain laws or certain divine revelations; they even want this belief to be firm and assured so that their followers won’t be led to change their minds easily.
But, this belief is no less blind; because the religions neither do nor can they give any clear, sure, and convincing proof of the truth of their so-called holy mysteries, or of their so-called divine revelations. They want absolute and simple belief in all that they say about them, not only without any doubts, but also without seeking, or even wanting to know the arguments in its favor: for this would be, they say, a shameless temerity and a crime of lèse-majesté against the divinity, to curiously want to know the reasons and proofs for their teachings, and what they oblige us to believe as coming from God, presenting by way of arguments this maxim which they find in one of their so-called holy books, a sentence they consider formidable, where it is said that those who try to peel and probe the secrets of the Divine Majesty of God too much, will find themselves oppressed by the brilliance of His glory[60]. Qui scrutator est Majestatis oprimetur â gloriâ. Faith[61], as our pious Christ-cultists say, is the support of things hoped for, and the persuasive reason of things not seen. Their faith, as they say, would have no merit if it were based on sensory experience and on human reasoning. The most pressing and powerful reasons, they say, for believing the most incomprehensible and incredible things, is to have nothing but that of their faith itself, which, as I have mentioned, is a blind belief in everything their religion obliges them to believe. This is also the basis for their maxim that it is necessary to renounce all the lights of reason, and all the appearances of the senses to captivate their mind in obedience to their Faith. In a word, they claim that, to believe faithfully, you must believe blindly, without using your reason or seeking proof. And, it is obvious that a blind belief in all that is proposed under God’s authority is a principle of errors, illusions, and imposture; since there is effectively no error, illusion, or imposture in matters of religion which doesn’t try to shelter under God's name and authority, and also since all impostors who invent or suggest these things, who fails to claim that he is especially inspired and sent from God. Therefore, all the religions establish as the basis of their mysteries and take as the rule of their doctrine and morality that one must believe, blindly, everything they present as coming from God, they establish as the basis of their mysteries and the rule of their morality a principle of errors, illusions, and impostures: thus, etc.
11. THUS, IT IS ONLY AN UNAVOIDABLE SOURCE AND CAUSE OF ETERNAL DISTURBANCES AMONG MANKIND.
And not only is this faith, or blind belief, which they posit as the basis of their doctrine and morality a principle of errors, illusions, and impostures, but it is also a deadly source of disturbances and eternal divisions between men: for, since it’s not by reason but by stubbornness that they are all led to believe in their religion and their so-called holy mysteries, and since each blindly believes that they’re at least as well grounded as anyone else in their belief, and in their support for their religion, and since this blind belief that each of them has in the supposed truth of their religion obliges them to regard all the rest as false, and since it also obliges them to support their own despite all risks to their lives and fortunes, and at the cost of all that is dearest to them, this keeps them from ever coming to any agreement on the facts of their religion, about which they can never agree: and this sows, not only perpetual disputes and disagreements among them, but also deadly disturbances and divisions. This is also why they are seen persecuting each other every day to the point of fire and blood in support of their insane beliefs and religions, and why there is no deed too evil and rotten for them, on the fine and specious pretext of defending and supporting the supposed truth of their religion, as insane as all of them are! Here is what Montaigne[62] says on this subject:
There is no hostility so admirable as the Christian. Our zeal performs wonders, when it seconds our inclinations to hatred, cruelty, ambition, avarice, detraction, and rebellion: but when it moves contrariwise, towards bounty, benignity, and temperance, unless, by miracle, some rare and virtuous disposition prompts us to it, we stir neither hand nor foot. Our religion is intended to extirpate vices, whereas it screens, nourishes, and incites them.
In effect, no wars are more bloody or cruel as those which take religion as a motive or pretext: since, at such times, everyone is blindly led with zeal and frenzy and everyone tries to make his enemy into a sacrifice to God, according to what a poet[63] said: inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum odit uterque locus, quum solos credat habendos esse Deos quos ipse colit[64]; “what excess will a man not commit,” as Bruyère[65] says, “through his zeal for a religion, of the truth of which they are not entirely convinced, and which they practice so badly?”
This argument seems so far quite obvious; and it is incredible that an omnipotent God, who is infinitely good and wise, would ever want to use such means, or such dubious ways, to establish His laws and ordinances, or to reveal His will to mankind; for this would clearly be the same as wanting to lead them into error, and wanting to set traps for them, to have them convinced no less by untruth as by truth. This is manifestly unbelievable with respect to a God who is supposed to be all-powerful, infinitely good, and infinitely wise. Nor is it any more believable that a God who supposedly loves peace and unity, who supposedly loves the good and welfare of mankind, as a supposedly infinitely perfect God would need to do, whom our Christ-cultists themselves call the God of peace, the God of love, the God of charity, etc.,; it is not believable, I say, that such a God would ever intend to establish and take as the basis of His religion so deadly and grave a source of troubles and eternal divisions between men as this blind belief of which I have spoken truly is, which would be unmeasurably deadlier for men than those golden apples ever were, which the goddess Discord maliciously threw into the assembly of the Gods at the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis, which ruined the city and kingdom of Troy, as the poets say.