Prejudices against religion and the state in CandideVoltaire has strong views that become very evident when reading his work Candide. Candide is a collection of criticisms that immortalize Voltaire's controversial thoughts and prejudices against religion and the state. Voltaire had a negative view of government as he wrote in Candide: "let us work without questioning, this is the only way to make life bearable". Voltaire accepted the royalists and rejected the parliamentary interpretation of the French constitution, but was willing to admit that the legal position was unclear. (Gay 111) Voltaire said, "the very word parliament constitutes part of its power and parliament is nothing under a vigorous government, it is everything under a weak king. All the more reason for kings to be weak to their rebellious magistrates (Gay 111) Supreme authority, which can be abused, is dangerous, but divided authority is even more so. Voltaire admitted that his gratitude had been overshadowed by Louis XIV's innumerable failures, and that the results of the king were less than what he could have done. (Gay 113) Compared to Louis's opportunities, his achievements became less impressive be good, why don't you do all the good you want. Can it be done?" Voltaire expresses in chapter twenty-one of Candide, his campaign against the war which ultimately translates into against the government. In 1760 Voltaire developed the philosophy that repression is necessary, but must be rational. The land of Voltaire's Eldarado, in Candide, has no prisons but is a utopia. The only justification for the repression is political rather than...... middle of paper......, incoherent maxims, without taste, without selection and without design. If the Song of Songs is an inept rhapsody, what will we think of a religion that pushes men to believe they are divinely inspired? In a word, the vileness and absurdity of the Biblical Jews demonstrates the vileness and absurdity of Christianity." (Gay 354) These statements illustrate Voltaire's views towards religion. Voltaire's strong views are clearly expressed throughout his work Candide is a collection of criticisms that immortalize the controversial thoughts and prejudices against religion and the state.BibliographyAndrews, Wayne New York: New Directions Pub 1981Gay, Voltaire's Politics.New York: Random House,1965Weitz, Morris Univ. Press.1963