Montesquieu Quotes
Do you think that God will punish them for not practicing a religion which he did not reveal to them?
Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat. Persian Letters. Translated by C. J. Betts, Penguin Books, 1973, p. 88.
This was a practical argument to justify government paying for religious education.
People of this era not only saw epidemics as the wrath of God, but also saw military catastrophe, invasion and raids as a punishment of God for the sins of the people of the area.
Ivan the Terrible. He was referring to himself as God’s Chosen One. He and the Church were aligned against the Nobles, whose lands Ivan wanted. He would execute hundreds of “traitors” every month. He even executed the families of his enemies in very cruel ways. He claimed to be “cleansing” the land of sinners in preparation for the coming judgment day, and the church backed him up on this. The Church gave him carte blanche to “punish” all sinners and his paranoia eventually got around to the church fathers themselves who became the final victims.
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, and political philosopher.