Thesis: Man looks to religion because he is ignorant. He attributes happiness to god rather than himself because he is lazy.
Religion due to Ignorance
Whoever uses common sense when analyzing religion will realize that it has no foundation
Theology is but the ignorance of natural causes reduced to a system
Man has always been at the mercy of his priest
Man has remained a child without experience, a slave without courage, fearing to reason, and unable to extricate himself from the labyrinth in which he has so long been wandering
the human mind, confused by its theological opinions ceased to know its own powers, mistrusted experience, feared truth and disdained reason, in order to follow authority
to discover the true principles of Morality, men habe no need of gods but only common sense. They have only to commune with themselves, to reflect upon their own nature
Happiness
Man has been taught nothing but stories about invisible powers upon whom his happiness is supposed to depend
Oppressed by the double yoke of spiritual and temporal power, it has been impossible for the people to know and pursue their happiness
Knowledge, Reason, and Liberty, can alone reform them, and make them happier
Almost always fascinated by religious fiction, poor mortals turn not their eyes to the natural and obvious causes of their misery; but attribute their vices to the imperfection of their natures, and their unhappiness to the anger of the gods
Men will be good , when they are well instructed, well governed, and when hey are punished or despised for the evil, and justly rewarded for the good
Overview
Men are unhappy, only because they are ignorant; they are ignorant only because everything conspires to prevent their being enlightened; they are wicked, only because their reason is not sufficiently developed
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