The Anabaptists were a Protestant sect that rejected infant
baptism, public office, and worldly amusements. The Amish and
the Mennonites, for example, follow Anabaptist doctrine. We as
members of the Religious Society of Friends share their same
focus upon Simplicity and Pacifism. Voltaire was unusually
sympathetic to Anabaptist beliefs, though he considered himself
a Deist, as were many learned men of his age. Jacques the
Anabaptist is one of the most generous and human characters in
the novel, but he is also realistic about human faults. He
acknowledges the greed, violence, and cruelty of mankind, yet
still offers kind and meaningful charity to those in need.
Unlike the long-winded and self-aggrandizing character Pangloss,
a philosopher who hesitates when the world requires him to take
action, Jacques both studies human nature and acts to influence
it. This is a combination that Voltaire apparently saw as ideal
but extremely rare. To this day, in the modern era, we
continually struggle with two philosophies