Seriously, the more I learn about Fritz' pretty hussars (Schöning excepted), the more I realise he and Heinrich had even more in common than I had thought. :)
Also: Deist, not Atheist. Fritz and Voltaire believed there was a God who started everything, just that the world and its people then were left to their own devices, basically. (BTW, I seem to recall some of the US Founding Fathers were Deists, too, notably Jefferson, which makes all the super Christianity of the US thereafter allied to a cult of the Founders super ironic.)
Yeah, I super remember you and mildred telling me about Voltaire being Deist and therefore believing in God but not in an afterlife -- which actually really resonated with me at the time for reasons too complex for me to go into right before my bedtime, so I'm not likely to forget that even if I wasn't (still, slowly) reading Orieux -- and I am absolutely sure you guys must have mentioned Fritz being Deist too at the time, but somehow my brain retained that Voltaire was Deist and not Fritz?? IDK, I really like Voltaire, I guess :P
BTW, I seem to recall some of the US Founding Fathers were Deists, too, notably Jefferson
Yeah, the funny thing is, like mildred I learned Jefferson was a Deist in school but they never really went into Deism very much -- I knew Deists didn't believe in organized religion but I would have assumed they believed in an afterlife until, well, last year :P
What Selena said! If you got the impression he was an atheist from my fic, that was extremely unintentional on my part. It's probably due to the fact that Deism was common in the 18th century but uncommon now, so people whose beliefs overlap with Fritz's nowadays are atheists.
But Fritz was always a Deist, as Schöning describes, believing in a prime mover but not in an afterlife. I will give Catt credit for describing that correctly: he always has Fritz professing belief in God but not immortality of the soul. The part where Catt's bias creeps in is that he adds things, like, "Well, naturally Fritz had doubts, and argued so much not because he wanted to convince me, but because he wanted me to convince him! And naturally he started coming around! He wanted to see his mother and sister, after all. And naturally he was confused and very superstitious, which is what happens when you don't have Christianity to prevent you from erring."
Remember that Diderot was unusual for his time in being a straight up atheist, and he didn't want to meet Voltaire because Voltaire was going to try to convert him, and he did not wish to be converted, and they had lots of written exchanges before they finally met. Fritz and Voltaire were on the same page about religion.
This is also the context in which Voltaire pointedly dedicates his church to "God" and says it's the only one, with the rest being dedicated to saints--that was a Deist jab at Christianity, especially Catholicism.
BTW, I seem to recall some of the US Founding Fathers were Deists, too, notably Jefferson, which makes all the super Christianity of the US thereafter allied to a cult of the Founders super ironic.
Indeed, this is where I learned about Deism in school even before I encountered it on my own, and in fact managed to be a Deist for a few months in high school. ;)
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Re: Schöning, first impressions
I thought he was an atheist? (Also probably due to Mildred's fic.) But anyway this is much more believable than Catt :PP
Heinrich: I am very loudly not commenting on this.
HEEEEE.
Re: Schöning, first impressions
Also: Deist, not Atheist. Fritz and Voltaire believed there was a God who started everything, just that the world and its people then were left to their own devices, basically. (BTW, I seem to recall some of the US Founding Fathers were Deists, too, notably Jefferson, which makes all the super Christianity of the US thereafter allied to a cult of the Founders super ironic.)
Re: Schöning, first impressions
BTW, I seem to recall some of the US Founding Fathers were Deists, too, notably Jefferson
Yeah, the funny thing is, like mildred I learned Jefferson was a Deist in school but they never really went into Deism very much -- I knew Deists didn't believe in organized religion but I would have assumed they believed in an afterlife until, well, last year :P
Re: Schöning, first impressions
But Fritz was always a Deist, as Schöning describes, believing in a prime mover but not in an afterlife. I will give Catt credit for describing that correctly: he always has Fritz professing belief in God but not immortality of the soul. The part where Catt's bias creeps in is that he adds things, like, "Well, naturally Fritz had doubts, and argued so much not because he wanted to convince me, but because he wanted me to convince him! And naturally he started coming around! He wanted to see his mother and sister, after all. And naturally he was confused and very superstitious, which is what happens when you don't have Christianity to prevent you from erring."
Remember that Diderot was unusual for his time in being a straight up atheist, and he didn't want to meet Voltaire because Voltaire was going to try to convert him, and he did not wish to be converted, and they had lots of written exchanges before they finally met. Fritz and Voltaire were on the same page about religion.
This is also the context in which Voltaire pointedly dedicates his church to "God" and says it's the only one, with the rest being dedicated to saints--that was a Deist jab at Christianity, especially Catholicism.
BTW, I seem to recall some of the US Founding Fathers were Deists, too, notably Jefferson, which makes all the super Christianity of the US thereafter allied to a cult of the Founders super ironic.
Indeed, this is where I learned about Deism in school even before I encountered it on my own, and in fact managed to be a Deist for a few months in high school. ;)