On the other hand, Peter Gay, a contemporary authority on the Enlightenment, points to Voltaire's remarks (for instance, that the Jews were more tolerant than the Christians) in the Traité sur la tolérance and surmises that "Voltaire struck at the Jews to strike at Christianity". Whatever anti-semitism Voltaire may have felt, Gay suggests, derived from negative personal experience.Gay, P. The Party of Humanity: Essays in the French Enlightenment. Alfred Knopf, 1964, pp. 103–05.
On the other hand Peter Gay, a contemporary authority on the Enlightenment points to Voltaire's remarks (for instance, that the Jews were more tolerant than the Christians) in the Traité sur la tolérance and surmises that "Voltaire struck at the Jews to strike at Christianity". Whatever anti-semitism Voltaire may have felt, Gay suggests, derived from negative personal experience.Gay, P. The Party of Humanity: Essays in the French Enlightenment. Alfred Knopf, 1964, pp. 103–05