ABSTRACT
On the eve of the Enlightenment, Pierre Bayle attacked religious fanaticism and defended religious tolerance on the basis of the special status of the atheist, who, since he has no confessional identity, owes undivided allegiance to the state. In Bayle’s dichotomy, atheism is the foundation of social order while intolerance, the natural concomitant of religion, is the enemy of the state.
