God & Human Beings

This is the first English translation of Voltaire's acerbic, insightful, and far-reaching survey of world religion. In this little-known work by Voltaire (1694-1778) - now available in English for the first time - the famous French philosopher and satirist presents a wide-ranging and acerbic survey of religion throughout the world. Voltaire called himself a deist, professing his belief in a supreme being, yet he was sharply critical of institutional Christianity, especially its superstitions, the hypocrisy of its clergy, and its abuse of political power. Both his deism and his critical attitude towards Christianity are manifest in this volume, effectively making it one of the first works of comparative religion. Comparing Christianity to the more ancient belief systems of the Jews, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Babylonians, and Arabs, he notes a common tendency to worship one supreme god, despite the host of subordinate deities. He also critiques the many superstitions and slavish rituals in religion.