Free Essay On Reason And God

Jefferson, Voltaire and Hume have presented interesting views on what they feel about religion. They feel that religion is not serving the purpose it is meant for and that it is being manipulated by people who are after their serving their own interests. They dismiss some religious teachings, dismissing them to be unrealistic since they cannot be supported by evidence. Even with the evidence that is provided to justify them, they feel that they have been manipulated and can only be presented by insensitive people and received by those who are insensitive. Some of the aspects of religion that have received sharp criticism is on the reality of miracles and prophesies. Jefferson and Hume claim that there is nothing like miracles since those who testify of their happening do not have substantial evidence to justify their claim. Voltaire also claims that prophesies and miracles are based on the word of mouth, which in most cases, those who profess to have received them, did so in private (Kramnick 45). To the authors of the article, those who claim to have received prophesy and miracles are only taking advantage of their unsuspecting audience to lure them into doctrines that are not necessarily real.
Analyzing the aspect of religion and religious books, the authors believe that religion was mainly created to bring order in the society by instilling discipline in the minds of people. The association of religion to a supernatural being was in fact meant to create a fear in people and hence making them subconsciously discipline. Even though the aspect of religion is not dismissed as false by the authors, they feel that some aspects have gone through manipulation and hence making it seem as if it is false. Their problem is not religion but the leaders who carry and bear the vision and are endowed with the responsibility of imparting it to others. They feel that such people are taking advantage of people’s commitment to religious teachings to drive their personal agenda. The immergence of many religious sects and religious leaders has also made the field competitive and hence creating a competitive scene. The desire for recognition is making some religious leaders to come up with some doctrines that make them stand out from the rest. Instead of instilling the fundamentals of religion that involve discipline and order, they push for miracles and prophesy which don’t make sense to their followers.

Works cited

Hume, David. "Of miracles." (2001): 143.
Kramnick, Isaac, ed. The portable Enlightenment reader. Penguin, 1995.