The Enlightment and Religion Essay

The Age of Enlightenment saw many great changes in Western Europe. It was an age of reason and philosophes. During this age, changes the likes of which had not been seen since ancient times took place. Such change affected evert pore of Western European society. Many might argue that the Enlightenment really did not bring any real change, however, there exists and overwhelming amount of facts which prove, without question, that the spirit of the Enlightenment was one of change-specifically change which went against the previous teachings of the Catholic Church. Such change is apparent in the ideas, questions, and philosophies of the time, in the study of science, and throughout the monarchial system.

Louis XIV, the ruler of France from the late seventeenth century to the early eighteenth century, claimed, “I am the state.” He considered this to be absolutism. His goal, also acquainted with absolutism, was, “one king, one law, one faith;” Furthermore, Louis wanted to promote religious unity, royal dignity, and security of the state. In order to achieve this goal, he had to rule with a firm hand, laying down the law for all to see. Louis XIV’s absolutism fostered in four major parts: the building of Versailles to control the nobility, the breeding of a strong military, the improvement of France’s economy, and, while quite harsh, the brutal extinction of religious toleration.

The Enlightenment caused many people to change their religious perspective while other did not. “Old Light” and “New Light” were the two split groups. “New Light” embraced the revivals going on, while “Old Lights” were not very fond of revivalism. This “warfare” caused Puritism to disintegrate because their ideal religious uniformity was broken.

France stood as the center for the Enlightenment because it was in a constant dichotomy between “the desire to censor dissident ideas and the desire to appear open to modernity and progress” (Hunt, 4098). Parliament hindered the monarchy’s reform efforts by using their own words of Enlightenment influence against them. This was a paradox that showed how the Enlightenment affected all levels of French life, but was applied to achieve different results. While the American Revolution and the resulting new republic was regarded as a successful application of the Enlightenment, the unstable, failed attempts at change and reformation in France led to early signs of revolution as revolts “in the name of liberty” from 1787-1789.

From 1450 to 1750 C.E., the Europeans were beginning to settle in the Western part of Europe in places such as: France, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and many more. Like many other of the surrounding countries and empires, the Europeans began to question many of the hierarchies in Europe at the time such as the Catholic Church by asking “Should we trust their process or attempt to reform?” or even “Should we ignore the intentions of the church and start something completely new that we believe is better for the people?” The development of both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment began to answer these questions and enforce their beliefs in European society. Through the inspiration of the “needed” change of tradition in European society the Protestant Reformation sought to bring back the early versions of Christianity, while the Age of Enlightenment sought to abandon Christianity and move forward. But both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment sought to focus on similar moral tenants such as the belief of individualism and the use of reason to analyze text. Overall, both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment in Europe desired to move away from the selfish, incompetent, and lazy Catholic Church of that time, and either move forward or reform to stabilize European thinking for centuries to come.

This had an adverse effect on the churches’ power which was lessened because of the influence of new “radical” thoughts of religion. Because of ideas that the Enlightenment brought forth from writing, they also made a significant impact on how politics transitioned from the old theocratic view of government into a democratic institution.

During the Enlightenment period, many people were opposed to religious beliefs. According to the bible and religious people, everything on earth and the

The Age of Enlightenment served as the concrete base for America. It also served the same purpose in France. The desire for a “utopia” was what each nation wanted, as any country would. The Enlightenment promoted the individual or the idea of humanism. Humanism, which spread across Europe after the creation of the printing press, was a philosophy that no longer focused on theism but human needs. Man was no longer depending on the church for thoughts to make decisions. The idea of fearing their God and church was no longer seen as necessary. People were trying to come up with solutions through their own rational thought uninfluenced by anyone else, but themselves. Both France and the American colonies were becoming secular, though France

The Enlightenment of the 18th century evolved due to the many changes brought about by the Scientific Revolution. With all of the new scientific discoveries, new thought processes were developed. The scientists of the Scientific Revolution brought about revolutionary change. These scientists inspired the philosophes of the Enlightenment to challenge the ways of the "Old Regime" and question the ideas of the church. Philosophers such as Francois Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke published their controversial ideas and these ideas along with some important political action, helped to mold a new type of society. The new society was one that tolerated different religious beliefs. "The minds of men, abandoning the old disciplines

The 17th century French aristocrat Michel de Montaigne lived in a tumultuous world. With the spark of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, the fire spread rapidly to France. The nation divided against itself. The rebellious protestant Huguenots and the traditional staunch Catholics both viewed the other group as idolatrous heretics in time when that crime could justify execution. Consequently, Catholic monarchs throughout Europe felt the impending threat to their reigns, too, because if they supposedly ruled through divine right, what would change concerning the support of their subjects? After the peace-making Edict of Nantes, rehashing the religious conflicts of the century was forbidden, but seeing his country—and even his own family—torn apart, how could one refrain from comment? So in his writings, Montaigne has to write around his actual subjects. This isn’t to say, however, that he conveyed none of his ideas directly. Montaigne criticizes the cultural belief in a correct way of life, opposing the idea with a more relativistic viewpoint, though the way in which he presents it, as mere musings in personal correspondence, fails to effectively convince his readers.

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Europe went through a period of intense thorough transformation. Even though religious wars in Europe had ended by the end of the seventeenth century through the Treaty of Westphalia, Religion was not the only matter that generated conflict among Europeans. The intellectual atmosphere generated by the age of Enlightenment generated conflict with the Roman Catholic Church as well as with the Monarchial authorities because many European and Euro-American thinkers made use of reason to study the natural world as well as human behavior, doubting the fairness of their religious, economic, social, and political systems. As a result, many enlighten thinkers, commonly known as philosophes, questioned the principles of absolutism, a form of government in which the monarchs had the exclusive right to make laws, and formed new ideas of liberty and progress, which were distributed across Europe and the Americas. Even though some European thinkers defended the traditional system of absolutism, the Age of Enlightenment lead to a series of revolutions in Europe and Euro-America that promoted the notion of selfdom and influenced the creation of new governmental systems, challenging and ultimately weakening the traditional system of European royal absolutism.

The people of France did not like the thought of the Pope having more authority than their king- who resides elsewhere, and across Europe “The Age of Enlightenment” was taking place. The people were becoming more self-aware and relied more on their own sense of reasoning, rather than putting all of their trust into authority figures. At this moment in history, the people of France began to believe the church and its representatives to be hypocrites. At risk of

The Enlightenment during the eighteenth century challenged each of the traditional values of the Catholic Church in that age (“Faith & Reason: The Role of the Roman Catholic Church During the Enlightenment”). Europeans were undergoing a constant change; unfortunately Europe’s religious organizations were not keeping up to par with these continuous changes. During that time period, the most prominent and conservative institution of Europe, the Roman Catholic Church, was completely forced into a direct conflict that at the time did not seem to have an end (“Faith & Reason: The Role of the Roman Catholic Church During the Enlightenment”). The Church was under attack by non-believers. The rest of the community who did not agree with Catholic beliefs were out to get them, they wanted to prove that nothing is “real” if it could not be proven through science. Nevertheless, the Church did not cease their fight. They continuously insisted that they were merely a source of truth through God. They also confidently claimed that all those who lived with disbelief were to be damned in their afterlife (Catholicism History). It was very apparent that the rest of the world was not having it and they did not care what the consequences were for not believing; they refused to be Bible huggers, basically. They were questioned left and right on their intentions and still, to this day are not supported

Enlightenment philosophers, like Voltaire, railed against organized theocracies and argued that religion prevented rational inquiry while it endorsed repression, tyranny and war. The philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who sought, “liberation of the human mind from the dogmatic state of ignorance,” had a major impact on the future ideology of revolutionaries.4 It was Enlightenment ideas which challenged people to question religious orthodoxy and use their own intelligence to draw conclusions about the legitimacy of traditional authority. These philosophies were the foundation of modern, egalitarian, democratic societies which would later replace Louis XVI’s absolutist monarchy. Enlightenment ideals had profound effects upon the politics of the early and mid-nineteenth century. However, a severe backlash against rationalism and liberal ideologies in France caused the return of church-state power; while conversely, in the state of Prussia, Enlightenment ideals inspired a suppression of the church’s power.5 Whether or not Enlightenment ideals and values were able to root themselves permanently in society, the introduction and widespread acceptance of secular ideas created major changes across Europe.

It was and age of reason based on faith, not an age of faith based on reason. ‘The enlightenment spiritualized the principle of religious authority, humanized theological systems, and emphasized individuals from physical coercion’ (Rempel). The central theme of this movement was the effort to humanize religion; all philosophies however, rejected original sin. One philosopher that created problems for the church was Blaise Pascal, who proposed the Probability Theory.