Not expecting to be baptized in a church, they find the Child of Nature waiting in a stream, as baptisms are depicted in the Bible.

The story satirises religious doctrine, government corruption and the folly and injustices of French society, including its practices that conflict with actual scripture.

First, the Child of Nature, on his way to receive accolades for helping fight off a British amphibious assault, is wrongly imprisoned as a Jansenist after he shows sympathy to the plight of those fleeing religious persecution.

He spends a great deal of time in prison, until his lover, having been sent to a convent for four years,– journeys to Versailles to find out his plight.

[2] Throughout L'Ingénu, Voltaire advocates deism and lambastes intolerance, fanaticism, superstitions, sects and the Catholic clergy.