1. Introduction

Toleration is a word that means to put up with or the conditional acceptance of some actions that according to one are not right but are tolerable. This discussion will deal with the exceptions to toleration according John Locke in his Book,’ The Second Treatise of Government and A Letter Concerning Toleration’. The approach will be to analyse the book and discuss how to change the concepts and the reason for the change.

1. Exceptions to toleration

Locke argues that most of the religious beliefs are tolerable by the government and the people except the Muslims. The reason he gives for his withdrawal of toleration of the Islamic faith is that too much commitment to the beliefs can create instability in the country. Another exception to toleration according to Locke is the Catholic religion, in which his reason for the lack of toleration is due to their refusal to keep faith with the Heretics. According to Locke, those who profess The other exception to toleration is the atheist in which he argues that there should be no toleration to the atheist as they completely do not have faith in God.magistrate’s law in case they break any laws, the atheists will not face the Devine punishment like the other believers, who believe in God. According to Locke, it is possible to dissolve the civil society in cases where there are no beliefs in the Devine power.

Locke has favouritism of the public stability as compared to the religious groups especially if they pose a threat to any public disorder. To him, religion should acquire new converts through persuading them to join and not through participation in violence and destabilizing the public. Only the churches that advocate toleration to the public law should go on with their activities. To Locke religion is not of any importance though his arguments support many biblical points.

It is possible to change the exceptions to tolerance as argued by Locke by first understanding the core mandate of the religions under the discussion. The purpose of the religion is not to alter the laws of any state, but to make ensure that people have a superior being for worship. Religion helps people to be orderly, obedience and observe the law through practicing the religious doctrines. The other way to change the exception to tolerance is by changing the perception of the government and the magistrate on the religion and its purpose. There is the need to change the attitude of the law enforcers and the government so that the two parties view religion in a positive way. Third to change the exceptions of tolerance, there is the need to read more from the work of the other philosophers, especially the one that offers criticism to the work of Locke. In this case, one can get conviction that religion or atheism does not violate the Law, but offer help in strengthening the unity of a nation.

1. Reasons for changing the exceptions to toleration

There are various reasons why there is the need to change the exception to toleration especially in relation to the view of the religion. First, religion is the pillar to many societies as it teaches and encourages the followers to observe the religious laws as, well as the state laws. Staunch religious people do not break the public law and also they do not cause any disability to the state. Second, those who profess no religious faith are not immoral, but it is their right to be in a religious group or to keep away from any religion. There is no possibility that atheist will cause disturbance in the society as they also believe in keeping the law and order. There is no strong argument to convince people that atheists can destabilize the society.

1. Conclusion

In his book, Locke gives his views concerning the issues that are tolerable and the ones that are not. In this discussion, the interest was on the exceptions to tolerance as argued by the Philosopher Locke. According to him, some religions like the Muslims and the Roman Catholic are not tolerable to he state or the judicial law. There are also the methods of addressing the exceptions to toleration and also the reasons why there is need to address the issue.

References

Locke, John, and J. W Gough. The Second Treatise Of Government. Oxford: Blackwell, 1966. Print.

Locke, John, and John Locke. The Second Treatise Of Government. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2002. Print.

Locke, John et al. A Letter Concerning Toleration. Concerning Civil Government, Second Essay. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1955. Print.