During Voltaire’s terrestrial journey in his excerpt entitled “Religion”, Voltaire finds himself deep in contemplation, which leads to a dream where he encounters a history of Christianity. His illusory journey begins when he finds himself marveled at the creation of the Milky Way, “One must be blind not to be dazzled by this spectacle; one must be stupid not to recognize the author of it; one must be mad not to worship him.”(119) Voltaire’s Deism does not reject Christianity. He begins this passage on Religion claiming that there is reason to glorify that which made creation. His dream takes flight though and shows the underbelly of religion. Voltaire is taken by a guide, who leads him through fields of white bones. It is explained at each heap the reasons why these Christians died: Heresy, “metaphysical quarrels”, “religious wars”. The wreckage of Christian dogma was tangible. Voltaire was introduced to famous men of the past who had been persecuted by Christians for wrong believing. He engages is a lengthy conversation with Socrates who tells him that Priests were at the other end of the hemlock which he consumed.

Voltaire’s point is made clear, when the last individual he meets who is bleeding and torn open tells of his persecution story. He was beaten and killed for telling others to love. Voltaire inquires if it was based on a new belief or if he was trying to start a new religion, the man answered no. He followed the customs and rituals prescribed of his day, yet was killed. The gentleman was Jesus and Voltaire was successful in relaying his message of Christianity being an established body that did not follow the words of a man who taught love, but had grown to become based on power and wealth. The true glory of God was not to be found in church doctrine, but in stargazing.

“…Let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly. That is the first law of nature”(129) In both “Religion” and “Tolerance”, Voltaire expresses the responsibility of humans to respect and love each other, The Golden Rule. In “Religion”, he bases this claim off of the teaching of Jesus, to love thy neighbor, he then comes back to give examples of Christians doing just the opposite. “But the government! But the Magistrates! But the princes!” (129) Voltaire is calling out officials who claim the sanctity of Christianity but lack the values. Deists, according to Holmes, would often believe in the ethical teachings of Jesus, but not his status as God. Voltaire goes as far as claiming that if we were to really adhere by Christian teachings, we should all be Jewish, because Jesus was. He is stripping away the ethereal to the real, what can be proved by reason and facts.

Voltaire in his work “Superstition” calls out this “ethereal” as magic, and magic leads to fanaticism. He names the sacraments of the Catholic Church as acts of superstition which are ultimately dangerous because they allow for people to be controlled and fanaticism to grow, which leads to misery. Voltaire though at times sounds “un religious”, in a way is claiming a new form of salvation; by living free of the bondage of dogma. Although Deist claimed to not be a new religion, it is an entirely new lens in which to view who God is and how he works, or does not, in the world.