Sergey Kadinsky

Written Works

This term paper was written for a Political Ideas & Issues class which I took at CCNY in fall 2006. The class was taught by Prof. Mira Morgenstern. The major works used for this essay are Utopia and The Leviathan.

The Religious Tolerance of Thomas More

And Thomas Hobbes

Living in a time when Europe was approaching the Reformation, philosopher Thomas more served in the court of Henry VIII, a king who was initially honored as the “Defender of the Faith” by the pope, but later went on to create a national church under his own leadership. An observant Catholic, More lived in a time when every government in Europe had a state religion, and people found guilty of heresy were persecuted for their beliefs. At the same time, More can also be described as a product of the Renaissance, when philosophy and reason were becoming important parts of an effective and persuasive argument. In Utopia, More showed that Christianity does not have to forcefully conquer to win converts. In a place like Utopia, where reason and order triumphed, many Christian ideas were consistent with the Utopian way of life and won converts easily.

 More that a century later, Thomas Hobbes wrote Leviathan from his home in France, living in exile at a time when his native England was under the rule of a Puritan parliament. Seeing religion as a source of discord, Hobbes hoped to see its power diminished. At the same time, he also had no problem with a state religion as an instrument of obedience to civil power.

 At the time More wrote Utopia, most of Christendom was within Europe and its colonies. Utopia’s location is described as being “in a region of the world where the Christian Gospel has never shone,” as a result, More constructs Utopian society in such a way that it would be consistent with Christianity. As a result, upon the arrival of the Gospel, “His doctrine, laws, miracles… you will not believe how glad minds they agreed unto the same.” (Hexter, 50)

 Examples of the values shared by both the Utopians and mainstream Christianity include the immortality of the soul, rewards for good deeds, and punishment for sins. To show how such a belief can be derived from reason, More states that without rewards in the afterlife, men would be crazy to forsake the pleasures of life for harsh and painful virtue.(More, 50) Within More’s personal writings, the “meditation of death”(Sylvester, 131) is a subject that More has often used in expressing the importance of virtue. In a poem to his sister Bridget, who forsook the pleasures of the world for a life of monasticism, More writes:

Lo here the end of worldly vanity.

Now well are ye, that earthly folly flee

And heavenly things love and magnify

Farewell and pray for me, for lo now here I lie. (132)

 

This example demonstrates More’s view that because life on earth is temporary, the pleasures and follies available are not worth pursuing, in contrast to the eternal rewards of the afterlife.

 Taking into consideration that Utopia has never had any previous contact with Christianity, More attempts to show that the development of religion in Utopia mirrors that of Greece and Rome, societies where reason and philosophy also had a role in religion. As a result, worship of the sun, moon, and great historical figures was commonplace, with either given the position of being the leading god.(More, 72) Considering the sun and moon, it can be reasoned that both objects are more powerful that man, and worthy of respect. The more educated Utopians, however believe that the Creator is so infinite in power that his image is beyond the grasp of the human mind. This type of faith can be described as being “as close to Christianity as men could get by natural reason.”(Hexter, 50) It has also been described by critics as resembling Roman Stoicism. This creates the question whether More’s Utopia is an example of Christian humanism, where the central element was natural law. At the time of the Renaissance, the Christian humanists looked to the literature of early Christianity, as well as the pagan writings of that time period, in the hope of finding common themes of improved wisdom, and to breathe new life into the church. (53)

 In Utopia, deadly sins such sloth, greed, and pride are nonexistent. To do this, More creates a society where a person’s basic needs are met, and private property is nonexistent. (Hexter, 74) Hythloday asks, “Why should anyone consider seeking superfluities when he is certain he will never lack anything? (Hexter, 74) In reducing Christianity to simple humanist concepts, More approaches close to Thomas Hobbes’ view of religion and Christianity as described in Leviathan. Like More, Hobbes places the establishment of religion in the state of nature on man’s fear and respect of greater and more powerful objects. These fears include death, poverty, and other calamities that cause anxiety, and in order to find a source for the good or evil fortune, a higher power. (Hobbes, 170)

 In the Leviathan, Hobbes reduces religion to faith, in order to make it less human-controlled. In his argument for separating church and state, Hobbes gives examples of religious leaders who failed to live by their own rules, leading to a weakening of faith among followers. Such examples include the Israelites, who were freed from slavery through a series of miracles. After waiting forty days in the desert for further miracles, they returned to idolatry by building a golden calf. A few centuries later, after the sons of Samuel were caught accepting bribes; the people lost faith and demanded a king to rule over them instead of divinely-prescribed judges. Describing the power of the Roman Catholic Church in European politics, Hobbes defends Protestantism as a return to faith, where people receive authority from Christ without the bishop or pope standing between them. (182)

 Reducing Christianity to the simple belief that Jesus is Christ, and that his kingdom is not of this world, Hobbes concludes that Jesus left to civil authority the power to issue laws. In regards to the New Testament, Hobbes describes its precepts not as laws, but as “pieces of advice which could help sinners on the path to salvation, until the mighty of the world imposed them as civil laws.” (Bobbio, 64) Hobbes’ Christianity can be described as anticlerical, antidogmatic, humanistic, and above all, easily subjected to civil power. (79) By pointing out that the heavenly kingdom is not on earth, Hobbes attacks any church that claims that the “Kingdom of God is the present church, or church groups that claim to be elected by God. (Dietz, 180) Thus, when religion has no factional disputes vying for the government’s support, it is not a threat to the Sovereign and to peace within society.

 Hobbes asks if nations should be “brought to acquiesce” to Christianity, and answers that Christianity is above Reason, and that teaching Natural law is sufficient. (Hobbes, 381) Examples of Natural law that are also used in Christianity include honoring parents, administering justice, and not harming other people. This includes the prohibition on violating someone else’s body, such as rape. Basically, Hobbes takes many of his Natural Law concepts from the Ten Commandments, and views them as essential to the mutual charity of loving one’s neighbor as oneself. (383) Hobbes gives only a few exceptions where Natural law, which is God’s law, should also become civil law.

 Hobbes’ opposition to state religions includes Protestant churches, which he views as complicit in causing the English Civil War. (Bobbio, 77) By judging and condemning the actions of the Sovereign, clerics can create disorder under the guise of protected speech. Considering such clerics to be “charlatans and demagogues, invoking God… as an instrument of their ambition,” (78) Hobbes appears to be asking for closer supervision of religious movements by the Sovereign, in order to prevent expressions of dissent. By reducing Christianity to a non-hierarchical system of basic beliefs, closely monitored by the Sovereign, Hobbes allows for religious expression, while protecting the Sovereign from any possible form of religious-based opposition.

 Similar to Hobbes, More also takes a humanist approach towards religion, by making it less hierarchical. More describes the residents of Utopia as receptive to Christianity because it is very much like the existing religions in Utopia. (More, 73) In addition, More points out that Jesus’ practice of “community of goods,” where the members of a group share the goods, is similar to Utopian households. Among the details of religious tolerance that distinguishes More from Hobbes is when religion creates division in society. More’s example is a zealous convert who vigorously spreads the Gospel by publicly condemning nonbelievers. Instead of being charged with insulting someone’s religion, the convert was charged with creating public disorder. More points out that “no man’s religion shall be held against him,” (74) with the verdict resulting in exile for the convert. Thus, instead of reducing Christianity to a powerless shell, More allows the convert to practice his version of Christianity, but away from the society that he was disturbing.

 Another example of More’s tolerance is expressed in King Utopus, who refuses to “dogmatize,” suspecting that perhaps God likes various forms of worship coming from different views. The only exception to this tolerance is the law against atheism, which holds that the soul is mortal and the universe is accidental. The king also exemplified More’s rational approach to Christianity that the true faith will eventually prevail, and does not need to use force to succeed. (75)

 Though Hobbes appears to tolerate faith that is harmless, he also makes an exception for atheists. Hobbes points out that an atheist would not be able to fulfill a contract, because contracts are fulfilled by oaths. In the Leviathan, Hobbes argues, “It is essential to every commonwealth that contracts are kept… Since an atheist cannot be bound by an oath, he should be banned from the republic, not as a criminal, but as a danger to the public.” (Dietz, 161)

 In regards to the various branches of Christianity, Hobbes appears to agree with More, giving recognition to the various ways that God is addressed. Because Christianity is based on Scripture, Hobbes recognizes that it would be subject to interpretation. Breaking down this barrier to unity, Hobbes argues that there is a central belief of Christianity that is indubitable: that “Jesus is Christ,” that he existed with a special role in establishing man’s relationship to God, ensuring salvation. (162) Hobbes also pints out in chapter 1 of the appendix to the Latin version of Leviathan that “what the fathers say outside the Holy Scriptures as particular explanations of their Faith does not oblige Christians.” (Dietz, 165) Thus, Hobbes appears to give Christians the freedom to explain their faith in way that may disagree with the church leaders. Hobbes writes that the Sovereign has no right to impose doctrine on citizens unless he sincerely believed that such circumstances would preserve them. Even within this loophole, Hobbes believed that the only doctrine that could be imposed in a tolerant environment is the basic tenet of Jesus being Christ. (166)

 Thus it appears that for both Hobbes and More, religious tolerance extends only as far as it can justify their own political leanings. For More, Utopia represents the perfect society, one that is capable of accepting Christianity through reason. As a result, it would be expected that within a few years of its introduction to the island, it would become the dominant religion, without any support from the state. To prevent tyranny of the majority from happening, More points out the example of the Christian zealot who was banished from the island for creating a disturbance. For Hobbes, religious tolerance happens as along as it does not create any division in society, or threatens the government. To prevent such possibilities from emerging, Hobbes allows for the possibility of a state religion, where the basic tenets of Christianity would be used to unite people of various Christian denominations, and transfer the allegiance of religious people from the clergy to the government. More and Hobbes also make many examples of natural law within religion, to show that they are not atheists, that the belief in one God can be used as a unifying theme in society, and that many of these natural laws help preserve authority and peace for the sake of self-preservation.

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