Voltaire and Freemasonry

--Adapted from The California Freemason
Published in the Indiana Freemason, V. 37 n. 8
January 1960

ERTAIN RELIGIONISTS would have us believe that Voltaire, the eminent French author, was an atheist. This article should dispel all such ideas.

"I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies and detesting superstition."

These words are not the words of an atheist. They are the dying words of Jean Francois Marie Areout, the famous French author popularly known as Voltaire, born November 21, 1694, in Paris, France. He died in the same city May 30, 1778. Different dates have been given for his birth and death, but the ones given here are generally accepted.

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He was the outstanding author, playwright, encyclopedist and outspoken critic of the established Church in France. It is probably because of his criticism that his enemies (the Church) labeled him an atheist -- which he was not. Actually he was a deist, which is quite different from atheist. We who know him to be a Freemason know that the appellation was incorrect because to become a Freemason one must express a belief in Deity.

A writer in the Oregon Freemason best expressed Voltaire's status in the following:

Voltaire used those great talents wherewith God had blessed him for the welfare of his fellow men.

He was one of the greatest champions of human liberty that ever lived.

He befriended the poor and oppressed; he fought every form of injustice and always resorted to the use of the pen rather than the sword.

He never attacked real religion, the sincere worship of God, or the honest faith of any man, but aimed his barbs at the hypocrites; those who used religion as a cloak to hide behind while they upheld oppression of the people.

How the scribes and pharisees of his day did squirm when he unmasked their pretenses and pointed at them the finger of scorn.

It was the ideas of this Freemason and philsopher, set in motion, that led at least indirectly to the French Revolution which liberated the people from the rule of a tyrannical monarch and a corrupt priesthood.

He was initiated into Freemasonry April 7, 1778 at the advanced age of 84; the initiation took place in Paris in the famous Lodge of "Les Neuf Soeurs" (The Nine Sisters), the ceremony being conducted by the celebrated French astronomer, Joseph Le-lande, with Comte de Stroganoff (Court Chamberlain of the Empress Catherine of Russia) and Colonel La Roche, as Wardens.

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No one ever had a better escort into the Lodge, for these proved to be Benjamin Franklin of the United States and Count de Gebe-lin of France. The Lodge of which he became a member was composed of the most famous scientists and literary men of the day.

We are told that because of the extreme age of the candidate many of the usual preparations for admission were dispensed with, but certainly not the requirements that he express a belief in Deity. He was invested with a Masonic apron which had belonged to Claude Helvetius.

He died two months after his initiation.

Voltaire is frequently quoted. One quotation is world famous:

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

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As a matter of fact, while he was not an atheist, he must be regarded as a deist--a deist who loved God but hated the priesthood. As proof of this we know that he erected a chapel on his estate and dedicated it to God. We must consider Voltaire in the times in which he lived. All who enjoy political liberty and freedom of worship should pay tribute to this great Frenchman.

His place in history notwithstanding his critics is secure, and those who visit his tomb in the Pantheon in Paris know that the motto which appears over his sep-ulcher represents the true character of a noble individual; no more is required; the motto reads:

"Here Lies Voltaire."

VOLTAIRE--French poet, historian, philosopher and the most celebrated writer of the 1 8th century. Made a Mason in the Lodge of the Nine Sisters (Paris) in 1778 at the age of 83. He was sentenced to the Bastille when much younger for challenging a French nobleman to a duel.