Notes on Ball & Dagger reader
John Locke (1689)
Toleration and Government

Lecture notes:

Quiz?

Term:  "Civil magistrate" = (secular) government

The purpose of the civil magistrate is to procure & protect civil interests.  [Note "indolency" (idleness, laziness, free time) and "possession" as two of these civil interests.  What form of life does Locke contemplate where "not having to work" and "having material goods" are central civil interests?  As we shall see, Marx criticizes liberalism on both these grounds.]

Why does Locke believe that it is not the purpose of the civil magistrate to procure salvation of people's souls?  He advances three general (& somewhat overlapping) reasons:

• God never gave anyone the authority to compel someone else's religion.  [But what about Peter and the subsequent Popes?]  We can't trust our souls to others.  Beliefs and practices that we falsely profess and practice are odious to God.
• The outward force of the magistrate cannot compel the inward persuasion that God wants.  [Well, maybe.  But is it o.k. to simply indoctrinate children into a particular religion?]
• Conflict among different governments shows that most imposed religions will be wrong (except perhaps for one, the "right" one — assuming that anyone even has the "right" religion in the first place).  People have to have free will to believe in order for their choice to mean anything to God.

O.k., that takes care of the civil magistrate.  What powers should a church have?  Locke starts out by defining a church as a voluntary association of people who freely and collectively consent to cooperate for their salvation.  It follows that they can set up their own rules for worship, but they cannot compel anyone to be a member and they can expel people who don't like the rules.

Locke was very much aware that public pressure could make things difficult for nonbelievers, even if churches can't formally force them to believe.  He argues that for religious belief to be truly free, churches cannot use their numerical dominance to pressure others through secular means.  Try to persuade them, yes;  be prejudiced against them and compel them, no.

Potential quiz questions:

• What is the main ground (or one of the main grounds) on which Locke rests his argument for political toleration?
• By "salvation of souls" is Locke referring to right living (orthopraxis) or right belief (orthodoxy)?  (Or both?)
• If someone (or even better, bunches of people) tells you that they think you're going to hell, is that public pressure, which Locke would forbid, or simple persuasion, which he would permit?

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