Essential John Locke: Religious Tolerance

Welcome to the Essential Ideas of John Locke. Like his writings on the nature of rights and the equality of all people, Locke's thinking and writing on tolerance were incredibly influential and affect society to this day. In many Western countries, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and many other religions and atheists live together, trade with one another, and cooperate in a peaceful environment, despite their differing beliefs. John Locke's ideas about tolerance laid the foundation for such societies. Back in the 1600s, things were very different. Discrimination, segregation, and even wars regularly occurred because of religious differences. Witnessing the divisive effects of this intolerance, Locke advocated for religious tolerance. This was considered a radical idea at the time. Locke argued that tolerating differences rather than demanding uniformity was a strength rather than a weakness because it would lead to greater stability. Locke saw the increased stability coming from the cooperation that occurs when people were tolerant of differences. Let's take an example. Gary sells fish nets and is part of the Red Square religion. Gary doesn't do business with people belonging to any religion other than his own, like Joe. Joe is a fisherman and part of the Blue Triangle religion. Joe's net is broken and the only net seller in the market today is Gary, but their religious intolerance prevents them from trading. This means Joe and Gary are both worse off. Gary doesn't sell his nets and Joe can't fish. Locke explained that religious tolerance would contribute to a more cooperative and prosperous society for everyone. In our example, Joe and Gary would be better off, but perhaps more importantly, by interacting with one another, they would come to learn how similar they are to one another despite their religious differences. As these interactions multiplied, people would become more trusting and tolerant of others, leading to stability and ultimately more prosperity. Locke's insights into the benefits of religious tolerance laid the foundation for intellectuals and philosophers that followed to broaden the concept of tolerance to many other aspects of life, such as speech and thought. For more information on John Locke, visit EssentialJohnLocke.org. And to learn about more essential scholars, visit EssentialScholars.org.