At the outset of an inquiry into the possibility of toleration, we are met with the time-worn discussion as to a causal connection of toleration with scepticism. Which is cause and which is effect? Or are we to regard the simultaneous manifestations of each as joint effects of a common cause?
The school of Buckle and Mill, and its later representative Mr Lecky, have somewhat obscured the controversy by assuming that the spirit of toleration implies an entirely conscious scepticism and indifference to religion. "Once take away the belief in exclusive salvation," they argue, "and toleration is assured. Advocates of toleration are ipso facto sceptical." This theory overstates the case at both ends, for it at once assumes an over-elaborate train of reasoning on the part of the persecutors, and it neglects the noblest argument for toleration. I will deal with these two points separately.
In the first place, then, let us try to understand the persecuting attitude. The mass of men, even in the so-called "ages of faith," are not inclined to exercise their minds about the problems of the universe, simply because they spend far the greater part of their energies in earning their daily bread. At certain crises in their lives, however, they need some kind of philosophy which will co-ordinate and rationalise their emotions and imagination.
