Thread by @adamsmithworks

#AdamSmith isn’t just interested in educating kids. He knows we need #LifeLongLearning and #AdultEducation.
He doesn't mean university courses for adults, but rather “preparation for a better world to come.” (He means church.) (V.i.g.1) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

So we need to know how to best fund the clergy who provide this kind of education. Direct payments from their hearers? Tax? Tithe? Salary? (V.i.g.1) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Just as with other educators, clergy will be more zealous and hard working when they are paid directly by hearers rather than being guaranteed an income. This is why newer religions are so lively. (V.i.g.1) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Established clergy become, like tenured faculty, gentlemen of learning and leisure, so when a “popular and bold, though perhaps stupid and ignorant” new set of religious enthusiasts crop up, the established clergy can’t outargue them.(V.i.g.1) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Their only recourse to drive out the new sect is to call on the government to persecute and destroy them. This is pretty much the history of world religion in a paragraph. (V.i.g.1) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

The old, established ways may be more learned, they may write better. They may even be right (though Smith certainly doesn’t commit one way or another).
But they do not know how to gain followers.

Maybe they should try Twitter? (V.i.g.1) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

The Catholic church solves this at the level of parish clergy and mendicant orders, as they rely more on direct contributions, or as Smith says “No plunder, no pay.” (V.i.g.2) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

#AdamSmith now just straight up quotes four full paragraphs of #DavidHume. Probably because he couldn't just title this section “Hume was right.”
Not that Hume would have objected if he had. (V.i.g.3–6) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

What Hume and Smith argue here is that while direct payments to clergy from their hearers produces a more zealous, hard working clergy, this is the exact opposite of what the legislators should want. (V.i.g.6) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

That’s because “in every religion except the true” (whatever THAT means) a zealous clergy promotes superstition, folly, and delusion because they need constant novelty to attract new followers. (V.i.g.6) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Smith agrees with all that, but *disagrees* with Hume's conclusion.
Hume thinks subsidizing a single state religion will "bribe their indolence", and because it's so dominant will render religion generally lazy and harmless. oll.libertyfund.org/title/hume-the…
#WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Smith's worry about the state privileging a single religion over others is that it will marry faction and fanaticism—unprivileged religions will continue to be zealous and also push for changes in the regime. (V.i.g.7) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Violent religious controversy and violent political faction go together. You can't unscramble that egg. (V.i.g.7) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

If you could, and if you could get rid of established state religions, you could safely have a lot of small sects, none of which would have any undue influence, and you’d have a more moderate populace and clergy. (V.i.g.8) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

If things go really well, says Smith, flourishing small sects without the privilege of political clout could even produce one of the great Enlightenment dreams: “a pure and natural religion, free from...absurdity, imposture, or fanaticism.”(V.i.g.8) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Even if you don't get that ideal result, you do get sects that aren't large and powerful enough to disturb the peace, and that’s a win all around. (V.i.g.9) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

(We, the SmithTweeters, think this section of #WealthOfNations should be taught at least as often as Locke’s Letter on Toleration. It’s possible we’re biased. But we think @jtlevy might agree.) (V.i.g.8–9) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

The common people, says Smith, are morally strict. People of fashion are libertines. (V.i.g.10) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

This is because levity and wanton behavior costs a lot. It can ruin a commoner in a week.
People of fashion can keep it up for years. (V.i.g.10) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

[Look, we KNOW we should be rooting for the morally upright commoners. But the people of fashion just sound like so much more fun...] (V.i.g.10) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

This difference in class morality is why new religions originate among the common people. (V.i.g.11) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

An aristocrat is what he is, wherever he goes (pace Harry Windsor). A commoner, however, who comes to a great city, has no notoriety but also no supervision. Joining a small sect may save them from bad behavior they'd undertake otherwise. (V.i.g.12) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Sects can become too morally rigid and disagreeably anti-social. This can be addressed with public education and public diversions like museums, music, and plays, which help keep us from being gloomy. (V.i.g.14–15) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

#AdamSmith isn’t generally thought of as a guy who likes a good party, but he understands why we don’t only want but also need festivity and joy.
Smith’s not gloomy, and SmithTweeters don’t need to be either! 🥳(V.i.g.15) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

More argument against Hume: If you don’t have an established state religion, the sovereign doesn’t have to worry about the clergy. But when you do, the clergy has to be policed, and they form a strong interest group to be dealt with. (V.i.g.16–17) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

An established religion means the sovereign has to worry about the doctrines that are taught and their effect on public peace. But it means he has little influence over them other than by “fears and expectations” he can inspire in clergy. (V.i.g.18) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

But if the sovereign comes down too hard on the clergy, they gain followers by being persecuted and martyred. And though govts should use positive incentives, they always seem to choose to use negative ones. (V.i.g.19) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

This is particularly true of the French. Did you know that Smith doesn’t like the French? (V.i.g.19) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

And now...a brief history of religion in Europe:

It’s eventful. (Smith is not very nice to the Catholic church.) (V.i.g.20–38) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

Smith is a fan of the presbyteries and their small benefices, because that structure prevents power grabs, encourages a modest, moral clergy, and converts people without violence—even when this becomes the established state religion. (V.i.g.38) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

When the church is too wealthy and powerful, they drain men of learning from the universities, and the universities get dumber.
...
Like in France. (V.i.g.39) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

One more thing against established churches: When they are supported by required tithes, the state loses revenue that could go to national defense. (V.i.g.41) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets

(#AdamSmith now pauses the invention of modern economics in order to chair the church budget committee meeting. Moving on...We'll see you tomorrow!) (V.i.g.41) #WealthOfTweets #SmithTweets