who is the philosopher that said religion is important to maintain order?
There was an European philosopher (probably during the enlightenment) that said though he’s not a fan of religion, religion is still important to maintain social order, who is this philosopher?
Soccrates said it, Plato wrote it, and Leonardo Da Vinci, even though not a religious man, himself, recognized that religion was the heart of any civilization.
…everything that tends to favor religion (even though it were believed false) should be received & availed of to strengthen it; & this should be done the more, the wiser the rulers are, & the better they understand the natural course of things.
- Machiavelli, Discourses, ch12
Well, a lot of people said it, albeit in varied ways.
Marx said that religion was the opiate of the people, which is certainly a caustic way of saying that religion does more than maintain order, it puts to rest peoples’ faculties to reason out what is happening to its socioeconomic order.
-John
You’re probably thinking of Voltaire, who famously said, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.”
The necessity he had in mind was social order.
In the same spirit, Voltaire once advised atheists, “when you talk of such matters, please ask the servants to leave the room.”