View source for A Letter Concerning Toleration

{{Short description|Book by John Locke}}
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| name              = A Letter Concerning Toleration
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| author            = [[John Locke]]
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| title_orig        = Epistola de Tolerantia 
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| translator        = [[William Popple]]
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| published         = 3 October 1689
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{{John Locke}}
{{Libertarianism in England|works}}
'''''A Letter Concerning Toleration ''''' (''''' Epistola de Tolerantia ''''') by [[John Locke]] was originally written in Latin in 1685-1686 to [[Philipp van Limborch]] and published in English translation in 1689 by [[William Popple]] without Locke’s knowledge.<ref name = “Wilken 2019”>{{Cite book| last = Wilken| first = Robert Louis| title = Liberty in the Things of God | chapter = Liberty Necessary unto Human Nature | pages = 172| publisher = Yale University Press | year = 2019| location = New Haven}}</ref> Its initial version was in [[Latin]], and it was immediately translated into other languages. Locke's work appeared amidst a fear that [[Catholicism]] might be taking over [[England]] and responds to the problem of religion and government by proposing [[religious toleration]] as the answer. This "letter" is addressed to an anonymous "Honored Sir": this was Locke's close friend [[Philipp van Limborch]], who published it without Locke's knowledge.<ref>A Letter Concerning Toleration by Locke, John; Tully, James H.</ref>

==Background==
In the wake of the discovery of the [[Rye House Plot]] and [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]'s persecution of the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]], Locke fled England to Amsterdam in the [[Dutch Republic]] in September 1683.<ref>Raymond Klibansky, 'Preface', in Klibansky and J. W. Gough (eds.), ''Epistola de Tolerantia/A Letter on Toleration'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968), p. vii.</ref><ref>Maurice Cranston, ''John Locke: A Biography'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 227–230.</ref> Throughout his life, Locke was interested in the debate about [[religious toleration]]. The question was much debated in [[Holland]] during Locke's stay, and in October 1685, [[Louis XIV of France]] [[Edict of Fontainebleau|revoked]] the [[Edict of Nantes]] that had guaranteed religious toleration for [[French Protestants]].<ref>Klibansky, p. x, pp.
xvi–xvii.</ref>

In the [[Dutch Republic]], Locke met [[Philipp van Limborch]], a [[Divinity (academic discipline)|Professor of Divinity]]. It was to be a discussion with Limborch that persuaded Locke to temporarily put aside his work on ''[[An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]]'' and put forth his ideas on toleration. Locke wrote the ''Letter'' during the winter of 1685–86.<ref>Klibansky, pp. viii–ix, p. x, pp. xvi–xvii.</ref>

==Argument of the ''Letter''==
One of the founders of [[Empiricism]], Locke develops a [[philosophy]] that is contrary to the one expressed by [[Thomas Hobbes]] in ''[[Leviathan (Hobbes book)|Leviathan]]'', in supporting toleration for various [[Christianity|Christian]] denominations. Hobbes did allow individuals to maintain their own religious beliefs as long as they outwardly expressed those of the state, however, and it has been argued that Locke's rejection of Catholic Imperialism was the ultimate basis for his rejection of the government's interest in spiritual salvation.<ref>E. C. Graf, 2007: ''Cervantes and Modernity: Four Essays on Modernity'', Bucknell University Press, pp. 141–55.</ref>

"That church can have no right to be tolerated by the magistrate," Locke argued, "which is so constituted that all who enter it ''ipso facto'' pass into the allegiance and service of another prince".<ref>Klibansky and Gough,
p. 133.</ref> If this were to be tolerated, "the magistrate would make room for a foreign jurisdiction in his territory and...allow for his people to be enlisted as soldiers against his government".<ref>Klibansky and Gough,
p. 133.</ref> This has been interpreted by historians as a reference to the Catholic Church, with the Pope being the prince to whom Catholics owed allegiance.<ref>Cranston, p. 260.</ref><ref>Klibansky,
p. xxxiv.</ref><ref>J. W. Gough, 'Introduction',
in Klibansky and Gough, pp. 3–4.</ref><ref>J. W. Gough, ''John Locke's Political Philosophy: Eight Studies'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), p.
197.</ref><ref>Scott Sowerby, ''Making Toleration: The Repealers and the Glorious Revolution'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2013), p. 256.</ref>

However, more recently, scholars have challenged the idea that Locke opposed tolerating Catholics in all circumstances.<ref>Marshall, pp. 690–694.</ref><ref>Mark Goldie, 'Introduction', in Goldie (ed.), ''A Letter Concerning Toleration and Other Writings'', p. xix.</ref><ref>Sowerby, p. 256.</ref> [[Mark Goldie]] argues that the traditional interpretation of Locke's position on Catholics "needs finessing, since he did not exclude the theoretical possibility of tolerating Catholics...if Catholics could discard their uncivil beliefs, they could then be tolerated".<ref>Goldie, p. xix.</ref> Goldie asserts that Locke was opposed not to Catholicism as such but [[antinomianism]], the belief that ordinary moral laws are superseded by religious truth.<ref>Goldie, p. xix.</ref> [[Scott Sowerby]] also claims that Locke left open the possibility that Catholics could be tolerated if they adopted tolerant principles and rejected political allegiance to the Pope.<ref>Sowerby, p. 256.</ref>

[[John Marshall (historian)|John Marshall]] has argued that several passages in the ''Letter'' demonstrate that Locke believed that Catholics "in their terms of worship and religious speculative beliefs...deserved their worship to be free".<ref>Marshall, p. 691.</ref> Marshall also notes that "The combination of Locke’s comments in the Letter suggests that during [its] composition ... Locke was once again struggling over how to discriminate between the series of associated political principles which for him made Catholics intolerable, and the religious worship and other religious beliefs of Catholics which deserved toleration."<ref>Marshall, p. 692.</ref> A confirmation of these positions seems to come from a 2019 discovery of a previously unknown manuscript, dated 1667–8, titled ''{{Proper name|Reason for tolerating Papists equally with others}}'', in which Locke makes his earliest arguments for religious toleration.<ref>''The Guardian'', 'Unknown text by John Locke reveals roots of foundational democratic ideas', 3 September 2019.</ref>

In one of the last paragraphs, Locke argued against [[Atheism|atheists]]: "Lastly, those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of a God. Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist. The taking away of God, though but even in thought, dissolves all; besides also, those that by their atheism undermine and destroy all religion, can have no pretence of religion whereupon to challenge the privilege of a toleration. As for other practical opinions, though not absolutely free from all error, if they do not tend to establish domination over others or civil impunity to the Church in which they are taught, there can be no reason why they should not be tolerated."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Locke |first1=John |title=A Letter Concerning Toleration |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Letter_Concerning_Toleration |access-date=7 June 2021 |date=1689}}</ref> This critique excluded all atheistic varieties of philosophy and all attempts to deduce ethics and [[natural law]] from purely [[Secularity|secular]] premises.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waldron |first=Jeremy |title=God, Locke, and equality : Christian foundations of John Locke's political thought |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-511-05786-5 |location=Cambridge |pages=13 |oclc=559294152}}</ref> There exists also a passage added in a later edition of the ''[[Essay concerning Human Understanding]]'', where Locke perhaps questioned "whether 'atheism' was necessarily inimical to political obedience."<ref>Marshall, p. 680.</ref>

[[Toleration]] is central to Locke's political philosophy. Consequently, only churches that teach tolerance are allowed in his society. Locke's view on the difficulty of knowing the [[one true religion]] may suggest that religion is not personally important to Locke. Still, it also may point to the deep uncertainties surrounding religious belief in a time of political and intellectual conflict. In contrast, Locke's view on atheism suggests that he was far from considering religion unimportant. As an empiricist, he considered practical considerations, such as how the peace of civil society would be affected by religious toleration. Closely reading the text also reveals that Locke relies on [[Bible|Biblical]] analysis at several key points in his argument.

==Reception==
There were immediate responses from the [[High Church]] Anglican clergy, published by [[Thomas Long (writer)|Thomas Long]] and [[Jonas Proast]]. Long believed the letter represented an atheistically disguised Jesuit plot for the Roman Catholic Church to gain dominance by bringing chaos and ruin to the English Church and State. Proast attacked the Letter and defended the view that the government has the right to use force to cause dissenters to reflect on the merits of Anglicanism, the True Religion.  Locke's reply to Proast developed into an extended, controversial exchange.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*Maurice Cranston, ''John Locke: A Biography'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985).
*Mark Goldie (ed.), ''A Letter Concerning Toleration and Other Writings'' (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2010).
*J. W. Gough, ''John Locke's Political Philosophy: Eight Studies'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973).
*Raymond Klibansky and J. W. Gough (eds.), ''Epistola de Tolerantia/A Letter on Toleration'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968).
*John Marshall, ''John Locke, Toleration and Early Enlightenment Culture'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). 
*Scott Sowerby, ''Making Toleration: The Repealers and the Glorious Revolution'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2013).

==External links==
* {{wikisource-inline|A Letter Concerning Toleration|''A Letter Concerning Toleration''}}
* [http://www.constitution.org/jl/tolerati.htm Full text]
* {{librivox book | title=A Letter Concerning Toleration | author=John Locke}}
* [http://www.earlymoderntexts.com Contains ''A Letter Concerning Toleration'', slightly modified for easier reading]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter Concerning Toleration}}
[[Category:1689 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:17th-century books in Latin]]
[[Category:Works by John Locke]]
[[Category:Freedom of religion]]
[[Category:Religion in England]]
[[Category:Toleration]]