The views of Voltaire on religion, ranked by James Haught (1996) as one of the top 64 disbelievers (#9) of history, is an intricate one: in 1759, in his Candice, he made a parody out of Gottfried Leibniz’s proposed solution to the problem of evil; sometime thereabouts he discovered the 1829 closet extreme atheism work of Jean Meslier, and into the 1760s began to promote Meslier’s anti-Catholic views and proofs. In 1769, Voltaire published God and Human Beings, wherein he presents one of the first comprehensive works on comparative religion and mythology.

“I cannot assign to the Theodicy any other merit than that it gave rise to the immortal Candice of the great Voltaire. In this way, of course, Leibniz’s oft-repeated and lame excuse for the evil of the world, namely that the bad sometimes produces the good, obtained proof that for him was unexpected.”

“Meslier’s war cry [Testament, 1729], never before heard in the history of western thought, offers one of the first true atheist moments, if not the first. Prior to him, they call the agnostic an atheist who, as Protagoras, concludes that when it comes to god one can conclude nothing; the pantheist who, such as Spinoza, affirms its existence consubstantial with nature; the polytheist, like Epicurus, who teaches its multiplicity; the deist, in the way of Voltaire, for whom god creates the world en bloc, but does not care about the details; or whoever’s idol does not correspond to the strict criteria established by the church. Now, the atheist clearly says that ‘god does not exist’. This is what Meslier clearly writes: ‘there is no god’ (chapters 59, 74, 93, 94)—that is clear and distinct, blunt, and straightforward.”

“Apropos, they have lent me that work attributed to St. Evremon, and which is said to be by Dumarsais, of which you spoke to me some time ago; it is good, but the Testament of Meslier is still better!”

— Jean d’Alembert (1764), “Letter to Voltaire”, Jul 9

“They have sent me two abstracts of Jean Meslier. It is true that it written in the style of a carriage-horse, but it is well suited to the street. And what testimony! That of a priest who asks pardon in dying, for having taught absurd and horrible things! What an answer to the platitudes of fanatics who have the audacity to assert that philosophy is but the fruit of libertinage!”

— Helvetius (1763), “Letter to Voltaire”, May 1

“The Testament of Meslier ought to be in the pocket of all honest men; a good priest, full of candor, who asks god’s pardon for deceiving himself, must enlighten those who deceive themselves.”

— Voltaire (1764), “Letter to Ferney”, Jul 16.

“Meslier’s Testament is the most singular phenomenon ever seen among all the meteors fatal to the Christian religion.”

— Voltaire (1766) [2]

“It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley; but not at all so to believe or not in god.”

— Denis Diderot (c.1765), “Response to Voltaire” [3]

“The Bible. That is what fools have written, what imbeciles command, what rogues teach, and the young children are made to learn by heart.”

— Voltaire (c.1750) [8]

“I want my lawyer, my tailor, my servants, even my wife to believe in god, because it means that I shall be cheated and robbed and cuckolded less often. ... If god did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”

— Voltaire (c.1760) [1]

“Atheism is the vice of a few intelligent people.”

— Voltaire (1764), Philosophical Dictionary (Ѻ)

“There are not sects in geometry.”

— Voltaire (1764), Philosophical Dictionary (Ѻ)