For centuries, many great minds and talented thinkers outlined their ideas about citizens, governments, the development of the world, and the way it should be arranged. For instance, Genevan writer and philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau had his views on the system of states. In his 1762 book The Social Contract, the thinker disputes the God-given right of the monarchs to rule and gives this all-powerful right to the sovereign people. Among his other valuable and revolutionary ideas is the perception of humans as equal and free and democracy as the most natural form of government. However, according to Rousseau, for people to be united and devoted to their fatherland, they need the authoritative institutions of a Lawgiver and a Civil Religion that address the same problems.
Rousseau saw many issues in contemporary societies and believed that various methods could help solve them, and sometimes his ideas may even contradict each other. For example, in The Social Contract, Rousseau states that all people are equal, but they need a specific religion due to several reasons (203). First, “no state was ever founded without religion for its basis,” but the Christian law is “more injurious than useful to the strong constitution of the state” (Rousseau 210). Additionally, most religions cannot address the conflicting claims of the mundane and the divine and separate the gods and the laws (Rousseau 204). Therefore, there is a need for a new, civil religion that would strengthen the moral qualities of the nation, unite people, and awaken their patriotic feelings.
Generally, civil religion needs to be powerful enough to touch the hearts of the citizens, condemning individualism, selfishness, intolerance, and atheism. Otherwise, without common spiritual laws and beliefs, people would be separated from each other, and there will not be any citizenry bounds (Rousseau 204). What is more, the philosopher states that another power of civil religion is to make the laws seem more natural rather than the desire of other people or imposition of human will. In that case, knowing that the laws are created by a more inhumane power, citizens will obey and demonstrate more patriotism, eliminating stubbornness.
Finally, when there are rules, someone must enforce them. Consequently, Rousseau talks about a lawgiver, or a more extraordinary legislator “sees all the passions of mankind and experiences none,” intelligent, and truly wants humans to be happy (58). Since some people still cannot obey and distinguish between right and wrong political principles, there should be someone to guide them and persuade them to be united and patient. The lawgiver is not like an ordinary governor, which is why his existence is not contrary to the freedom and equality of people. At the same time, both civil religion and the lawgiver follow the same mission and try to address the same problems.
To conclude, one may say that the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau are indeed interesting, sometimes contradictory, and revolutionary at the time. Wanting societies to be united and devoted to their country, Rousseau considers civil religion to be the best way of eliminating people’s egoism, individualism, and unawareness. One can probably agree that faith is a very powerful tool, and if people believe in the state’s laws’ divine origin, they would be more passionate about following them voluntarily. Finally, the purpose of the almighty, independent, and extraordinary lawgiver is to encourage the citizens to respect the laws and achieve happiness.
Work Cited
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract: Or, The Principles of Political Rights. G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1893