Locke is credited with the concept of empiricism, that human beliefs come from experience and our senses rather than divine action. He is best known, however, for arguing for pluralism in politics, a novel idea when it was previously believed that a nation could not function without religious uniformity. Although a sectarian civil war in France and a semi-sectarian one in England might suggest this pessimism to be correct, Locke argued that conflict came from attempts to force uniformity on people and that peace could only be established by allowing them to choose their own church. Religion,
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