Queen Sinha
Volume-XII, Issue-I, October 2023
Volume-XII, Issue-I, October 2023 | ||
Published Online: 31.10.2023 | Page No: 219-224 | |||
Locke and His Philosophy of Religious Toleration
Queen Sinha, Faculty, Department of Political Science,
Hindi Shift Banwarilal Bhalotia College, Asansol, India | |
John Locke, the byword English political philosopher of 17
h
centaury is also known as
father of liberalism. He advocated for the supremecy of individual over state as he was of
the openion that the base of state is the consent of masses. Though he was not first to
separate religion from politics, but being an individualist, he always gave emphasis on
freedom of religion of individual as he was of openion that state should not interfer on
religious realm of an individual. The then political milieu compelled him to separate
religion from politics. In one of his magnoumopus “Letter Concerning Toleration” he was
that person who laid the foundation of modern secularism. He designed his theory of
religious tolerance to establish the concept of modern secularism, to prevent the abuse of
political power. His theory rest on the principle of conscience which was the ultimate
source of religious truth to him. This article deals with Locke’s philosophy of religious
toleration. This article reveals how he had discussed the role of state in the religious matter
or his notion on religious toleration and library method is used for this purpose. | |
Keywords: Freedom, Natural Rights, State, Toleration. |