Letter Concerning TolerationJohn Locke

Locke wrote this letter in 1685, during his exile in Holland, and published it anonymously in 1689. Its argument is simple and sharp: the magistrate has no authority over the care of souls, and the church has no authority over civil affairs.

The case rests on the nature of belief. True religion requires inward persuasion, and persuasion cannot be compelled by force. Persecution therefore cannot save souls; it can only produce hypocrisy or suffering. The magistrate's power extends to the protection of civil interests (life, liberty, property) and no further. Churches are voluntary associations, free to set their own terms of membership, but unable to call on the civil sword to enforce orthodoxy.

Locke draws limits. Atheists cannot be tolerated because their oaths cannot be trusted (a claim he never adequately defended). Catholics owe allegiance to a foreign prince. These exceptions reveal the tension in Locke's argument: toleration is grounded in a Protestant understanding of faith as inward and voluntary, and it struggles to extend itself consistently beyond that framework.

The letter remains the foundational text of the liberal case for religious toleration, and its tensions remain unresolved.