Özet:

John Locke, who is considered to be a few steps ahead of many thinkers before and after him in terms of equality and individual freedoms, especially underlines that people have certain rights that are given from birth by God. These rights are the rights to life, freedom, equality and private property. The most striking aspect of these rights, which Locke insisted upon, is that they were given to man by a creator from birth. Therefore, according to Locke, no one, whether he is a pagan, a Muslim, a Jew, or of any other faith, cannot be deprived of these birthrights because of her/his religious belief. However, it can be said that Locke's attitude has completely changed when it comes to these birthrights and atheists who do not have any belief. Because Locke, who tolerates all beliefs, Locke claims that atheists do not have moral principles such as good bad or right-wrong that give meaning to relationships between people, leaving them outside the scope of tolerance. Thus, atheists who fall outside the scope of tolerance cannot enjoy the rights mentioned by Locke. However, Locke's claim that atheists do not have moral principles does not correspond to a reality because it is not based on empirical data. Therefore, Locke's understanding of tolerance distinguishes between believers and non-believers, and thus leads to discrimination. For this reason, Locke's understanding of tolerance is far from having a universal character. In this case, it should be read that Locke's understanding of tolerance was put forward to defend the Christian faith and to contribute to the relief of the socio-political crisis caused by the civil wars and especially the religion-centered wars in the geography he lived in.

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