What are Hobbes’s views on the divine right of the monarchy?

Hobbes did not believe in monarchy by divine right for one simple reason: he was an atheist. He could not come right out and admit this, however, because it would have caused him serious trouble with the authorities. However, there is little doubt that Hobbes was, at best, an agnostic. In any case, Hobbes' political philosophy has no need to speculate about the existence of God. His entire system is completely secular and naturalistic; it...

Hobbes did not believe in monarchy by divine right for one simple reason: he was an atheist. He could not come right out and admit this, however, because it would have caused him serious trouble with the authorities. However, there is little doubt that Hobbes was, at best, an agnostic. In any case, Hobbes' political philosophy has no need to speculate about the existence of God. His entire system is completely secular and naturalistic; it has no need for divine intervention whatsoever.

The omnipotent monarch of Hobbes's philosophy does not occupy the throne because God somehow supernaturally intervened to put him there. He is there because men in a state of nature got together, gave up their natural rights, and invested them in a sovereign with absolute power to maintain order and stability.

The sovereign does have an important religious role to play, however. He gets to decide the outward signs of religious observance. He cannot control men's minds, but he can control which doctrines are taught. He can also actively censor and suppress those he deems injurious to public safety. This is an important foundation of the royal sovereignty. Religious differences were a major source of the social and political disorder that plagued England in Hobbes's lifetime and were a source he particularly abhorred. Putting the all-powerful sovereign at the head of a national church is, for Hobbes, the only way to heal these dangerous divisions.