Title: People, Peoples and the Freedom of Religion in Spinoza

Abstract: For Spinoza, each individual has his or her own ingenium, their own personal setsof beliefs, likes and dislikes that help define them as the individuals that they are. And because of that, Spinoza thinks that they should be granted a large degree of freedom in the choice of the religion that they practice. He writes: “Opinions govern men in different ways: those which move one person to devotion, move another to laughter and contempt.” So as long as they subscribe to the true religion, that is, as long as they love their neighbor as themselves, and love God above all, they should be allowed to worship as they please. However, this right does not extend to groups of individuals. The Jewish community, a collective individual can be said to have an ingenium as well. But even so, Spinoza seems unwilling to extend this right to the Jewish community, as opposed to individual Jews. In this talk I will explore why individuals get religious freedom for Spinoza, but groups of individuals don’t.