The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion which does not tend towards this goal must be considered foreign or dangerous.


"The Ecclesiastical Ministry" - Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1764)

Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary[history.hanover.edu]


The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion ...

The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion ...

The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion ...

The institution of religion exists only to keep mankind in order, and to make men merit the goodness of God by their virtue. Everything in a religion ...