In “Reflections on Religion” Voltaire explains that “fanaticism is to superstition what delirium is to fever and rage to anger.” He gives an example of Jean Diaz, who was convinced that the Pope was the Antichrist and would bring about the Apocalypse. Jean Diaz did not act on this belief; he simply believed the worst about the Pope from afar and was therefore, not a fanatic. However, Jean Diaz’s brother Bartholomew Diaz believed the opposite of his brother, which led him to come assassinate his brother “out of piety.” Voltaire explains that this action makes Bartholomew a fanatic.
The distinction Voltaire seems to be making with this example is one between belief and action. It is okay, Voltaire implies, to believe in crazy things as long as you do not act on those crazy beliefs. Believing in something crazy makes one an “enthusiast” while acting on those beliefs makes you a “fanatic.”
Voltaire goes on to tie fanaticism closely to religion, saying, “religion, far from being healthy food for infected brains, turns to poison in them.” Virtually all the examples Voltaire provides of violent fanaticism are in some way tied to religion.
250 years later, Voltaire would not find himself at a loss for modern examples of the type of religious fanaticism he bemoaned in the 18th century. Extremist Islamic Jihadists wage violent war on the “infidels” of the West. The Lord’s Resistance Army commits routine massacres in the name of Jesus in Uganda. Honor killings of women who have committed adultery or been raped still occur throughout the developing world. Murder is used as a “punishment” for homosexuality by religious societies in the Middle East and Africa. Even in our own “developed” country, we are occasionally faced with hate crimes driven by religious differences.
Indeed, cases of religious fanaticism as Voltaire described are still rampant around the world, but it also seems that to limit fanaticism to religious motivations limits our observations, particularly in a modern context. As much of the developed world has grown more secular since the days of Voltaire, we seem to have found new things to be fanatical about. Nationalism, greed, and “security” seem to have replaced religion for the Western world as a motivator for violent acts of fanaticism. While the crazy beliefs may be different, the violent ramifications often feel too familiar to Voltaire’s descriptions.
