Religious Tolerance

The two passages dealt with religious tolerance, each from a different perspective. The first passage, John Locke’s “A Letter Concerning Toleration” from 1689, was written from the viewpoint of a man under a king’s rule in England. The second passage, “The Blind Men and the Elephant,” is a Buddhist parable.

Locke’s reasoning for religious tolerance is all over the place. He first explains that no man has any right to enforce his beliefs on another man, stating that faith comes from within one’s self, and it is not considered faith if it be thrust upon another. He also states that the civil government shall be separate from the church. The government has no authority in the confines of the church, and the church cannot enforce its teachings in the commonwealth. Nor can a member of any status of the religious community try to enforce the beliefs of the church unto any persons