François-Marie Arouet, more commonly known by his pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of political agendas. Voltaire was apart of the Deist movement which a belief in which God has created the universe but remains apart from it, permitting his creation to administer and stuard itself and all creation  through natural laws. Deism does not hold to the supernatural aspects of religion, like the idea that God gave his revelation through the Bible, but rather, it stresses the importance of ethical conduct/morality.

‘Voltaire was a towering intellect whose Enlightenment understanding of the world influenced his views of religion (and Christianity).’ (Dr. Reis). Through natural revelation Voltaire sees and understands just a part of the greatness of God. Natural revelation is the idea that everyone is without excuse to acknowledge the existence of God merely by the sight of nature. Nature could not simply appear by chance, it is too intricate and beautiful, it must have had a creator, that creator being God. Voltaire reminisces on a night where he was overcome with admiration and realization of the magnitude of nature and what he does not know. He references the amount of knowledge and wisdom it must take to be able to create such beautiful things that work in harmony together saying “I admired still more the intelligence which directs these vast forces. I said to myself: ‘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.'”(The Portable Enlightenment Reader, pg 119). Voltaire says the obligation of all humans is to give tribute/worship to God since He created everything. The existence of God also dictates how Voltaire thinks humans should interact toward one another having an obligation to help those when we can and to not leave deads in our power undone for all are created by God, so therefore, have equal dignity and worth. Voltaire goes on a radical cosmic journey with a guide to where he speaks to multiple ‘Greats’ from history and they give him insight. Finally it is revealed to Voltaire that the one true religion, and Law for those in existence,for all is “Love God and your fellow creature as yourself”. (The Portable Enlightenment Reader, pg 124).

Voltaire’s world view focuses heavily on how people are treated in the socio-economical setting. When speaking about tolerance, Voltaire says “It is clear that the individual who persecutes a man, his brother, because he is not of the same opinion, is a monster.” (The Portable Enlightenment Reader, pg 129).