“At another time of violent religious schism (1689), the physician John Locke (1632–1704) …” https://t.co/F8nfLx4Jll on religious conflict
— George Atherton (@notrehta) July 30, 2016
At another time of violent religious schism (1689), the physician John Locke (1632–1704) linked three ideas that have together proven to be a powerful and enduring statement of western values—empiricism (Essay Concerning Human Understanding), liberalism (Two Treatises of Government), and tolerance (A Letter Concerning Toleration). His argument about how human beings acquire knowledge of the world provided the basis for his view that political communities are formed out of Nature and Reason. The first law of Nature is Reason, he suggested, and our societies should therefore protect and augment ideas of freedom and equality. He writes powerfully, “that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his Life, Health, Liberty, or Possessions”. The goal of political communities is “the Peace and Preservation of all Mankind”. The purpose of government is “to restrain the partiality and violence of Men”. And these freedoms should extend to religion— ”The Toleration of those that differ from others in Matters of Religion, is so agreeable...to the genuine Reason of Mankind, that it seems monstrous for Men to be so blind, as not to perceive the Necessity and Advantage of it, in so clear a Light.”A “coherent and particular view” of being human can make our disintegrating world whole again. It is so true that “a war on Islam will never solve the existential predicament we currently face.” Violence helps no one.
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