Joseph II Quotes
I do not know whether the books are religious or not; but I know that they are tiresome, and teach me nothing…We have already gone through five volumes of it, your majesty, and I am tired to death of it. Moreover, I don't believe half that I read in his [Father Francis—his religious tutor] stupid books.
The source is a historical novel. However the story of Joseph’s early antipathy to formal religion was common knowledge and while the exact wording of the quotation may be in doubt, there is much corroboration of the essential validity. His free thinking enlightenment began at a very early age. The clerics would complain about him for his entire life.
Joseph II, 1741–1790, King of Bohemia and Hungary, Holy Roman Emperor Son of Maria Theresa, Response to his mother who when he was a young boy had been told that he did not read most of the religious books that had been assigned to him, Quoted in Louise Muhlbach, Joseph II and His Court
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Whoever teaches differently from what I have taught, … condemns God and must remain a child of hell.
Humility and doubt were not characteristics of Martin Luther.
Einstein’s religious views were very sophisticated and unusual. He was a deist—a believer in God. He was of Jewish background and like some Protestant sects, Jews can interpret scripture and the nature of God as individuals. They need not follow a particular doctrine. However Einstein had a very complex vision of God—as he described it, the “God of Spinoza”—a 17th century Rabbi and Philosopher whose views were so radical that his books were banned and he was excommunicated by the Rabbis of Holland, a rarity in Judaism. This view of God is not the human-related form but a view of God as an abstraction everpresent and a prime mover inherent in nature, the world and in humanity.
Priests at the time were mostly uneducated. They would tend to make up their own Biblical stories that the people would prefer rather than the official church versions. The bishops wanted this practice stopped.
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor Francis I, and the brother of Marie Antoinette. He was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the House of Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine. Joseph was a proponent of enlightened absolutism; however, his commitment to modernizing reforms resulted in significant opposition, which resulted in failure to fully implement his programs. Meanwhile, despite making some territorial gains, his reckless foreign policy badly isolated Austria. He has been ranked with Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia, as one of the three great Enlightenment monarchs. His reputation as an enlightened monarch was somewhat legendary, leading to false, but influential letters depicting him as a radical philosopher. His policies are now known as Josephinism. He was a supporter of the arts, and most importantly of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. He died with no sons and was succeeded by his younger brother, Leopold II.
