Voltaire s Candide And Dante s Inferno - 1562 Words

In Voltaire’s Candide and Dante’s Inferno they offer two takes on their views of religion. In Voltaire’s Candide he satires religion and questions it because of how morally corrupt religious are and how wrong it is to persecute another person’s religion. In Dante’s Inferno he reflects and shows why his religious beliefs are the reasons why people are in hell as well as why his religion justifies certain people being in hell. In Voltaire’s Candide religion is one of the main targets of what Voltaire mocks. Outside of the utopia that is El Dorado religion is consistently seen as corrupted and morally bankrupt because people have given up on it. Religious figure in Candide such as the inquisitor and the Jesuit baron are often self-absorbed and do less charity work then the common people in which they look over. The only person who Voltaire does not critique or mock is James the Anabaptist. The reason for this is the fact that the Anabaptists were very unpopular and highly persecuted during the time in which Voltaire wrote Candide. The quote â€Å"A man who had never been christened, a good Anabaptist, named James, beheld the cruel and ignominious treatment shown to one of his brethren, an unfettered biped with a rational soul, he took him home, cleaned him, gave him bread and beer, presented him with two florins, and even wished to teach him the manufacture of Persian stuffs which they make in Holla nd† (3.13). This quote shows that Voltaire is upset that James the Anabaptists had