ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the three primary considerations which Locke offers for toleration in the A Letter Concerning Toleration, what is called the 'truth argument', the 'rationality argument' and the 'consent argument'. It begins by showing how Locke himself rejected the 'modal' account of the state and its peculiar conception of state legitimacy, which Waldron seeks to ascribe to him. The chapter explores each of Locke's three considerations for toleration, based on truth, rationality and consent, in turn. The legitimate scope of state authority is dependent entirely on the efficacy of the instruments at the state's disposal. In addition to scepticism concerning knowledge of 'true religion' and a belief that there is 'one truth, one way to heaven', Locke's 'truth argument' for toleration is also underwritten by an assumption that the religious beliefs we hold in this life will determine our salvation in the next, with the result that our religious choices have eternal consequences.
