Voltaire with the bible

[Carsten Schermuly]

See on this tourist photo page in second row a statue (thumbnail, click to get the larger copy), showing the Great Voltaire and his favourite book - the bible.
Unbelieable,
thinking about, what nonsense he has told all the times - so I wonder why he is shown with the bible,
maybe the sculptor had a soft heart?

http://russell.dyerhouse.com/cgi-bin/photo_album.cgi?album=paris&parent_album=paris

[Joanne Vergin]

I don't know a lot about Voltaire.

I do know many people learn the Bible in order to refute everything it says.
Sad.

[Carsten Schermuly]

He made an important mistake, many people did and many people still do.
He looked on what the Clerus and the french kings did - and he looked not in the bible to find out the truth. He was in opposition to the etablished classes and was going over the target - he has said words of blasphemia without the will to do blasphemia. He was against the many religious lies - and did not differ between faith truth and political violence.

One of his words, best known under christians was, he would work for, never more one single bible should be found in France. Today a bible society has its head quarter in his Paris house.

The german king Frederic the Great, king in Prussia (not king "of" Prussia), was a friend of Voltaire and Voltaire was often and sometimes for years guest of Frederic the Great. Seen on the biography of Frederic the Great, we will see his father, the "soldiers king", was too strictly to him as a boy. So Frederic the Great was also in opposition to the etablished society and all his life work is very liberal - the reason why he is known as a man of social reform politics. Correct were to say, he was interested to build a strong country as the true background to let erect such a law like the law, everybody had to see a school and to learn basic mathematics, basic geography and to write etc. He also made the mistake, not to differ. His critical view about a traditional "King by Gods Grace" made him error, christianity will be just one of many religions.
Worldly minded people do love liberalism - no wonder, Frederic the Great was easily accepted by his folks - and many learned by his politics to wipe off questions after truth and faith.

This also is the reason why people like to erect monuments like seen in that Voltaire tourist photo (note the black face in that photo, will that teach us something?).
The world will honour the wrong people.

[Carsten Schermuly]

Voltaire on WikiPedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire