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In Vision Ohio our president stated that one of our goals  was to increase the national      prominence of Ohio University. The strategic plan of the library supports this goal through the development of a nationally recognized special collection of books on the subject of RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE. This subject is both historically important and completely current. Some of the    books in the collection are very rare. They can be seen in the climate controlled display cases in front of the reference books shelves. These rare books may only be accessed by researchers with an approved course of study.  

                                                                                                                                       All photos by Andy Gigley

Dreaming of a new country based on religious freedom, Thomas Jefferson consulted the books in this case. Only a few hundred of these books were printed, and our copies come from the same printing run as the ones on the shelves of Thomas Jefferson’s library.

Locke, J. (1765). Letters concerning toleration. London: Printed for A. Millar.

Locke was arguably the most important philosopher of the Enlightenment, inspiring both the shapers of the American Revolution and the authors of the U.S. Constitution. Locke argued that it is the duty of the state to secure the “civil interests” of its citizens, but the “care of the soul” cannot be its business, this being a matter between the individual and God to whom alone one is responsible in this regard. Hence there is a God-given, inalienable right to the free exercise of religion.

 Voltaire, F. M. (1733). Letters concerning the English Nation. London: C. Davis & A. Lyon.

During his exile in England (1726-1728), Voltaire was embraced by the British as a       victim of France's injustice and infamy. Employing the methods of Locke and other Enlightenment philosophers and scientists, Voltaire’s work was a slap at the French and a call for political and religious freedom.

Bayle, P. (1708). A philosophical commentary... London: J. Darby in Bartholemew-Close.

Bayle's work is the most comprehensive attempt to refute the arguments for the duty of intolerance that go back to St. Augustine. Bayle was the first to try and develop a valid argument for toleration that included universal toleration of persons of different faiths as well as of those seen as lacking any faith.

Voltaire, F. M. (1779). A treatise on toleration. London: for Fielding & Walker.

The exceptional importance of this text, apart from the cogency of its arguments, lies in the fact that Voltaire's treatise is not simply a philosophical dissertation – it is a call to action.