Can't find it here? Try MegaEssays.com Enlightenment Attitudes Towards Religion By: Lisa Enlightenment Attitudes Towards Religion Scientific and philosophical innovations during the 18th century brought about a new breed of thinkers. Their driving forces of rational and reason shifted the religious temperament of the elite from “enthusiasts” to intellectuals. “They argued that there was no divine standard of morality, no afterlife to divert humanity from worldly concerns” (The Western Experience, pg. 657). They were radicals …showed first 75 words of 670 total…

…showed last 75 words of 670 total…of eternal salvation (The Western Experience, pg. 661). The Age of Enlightenment spawned a new era of thinking. Its quest for the rhyme and reason of what is and why birthed a new intellectual freedom. Perhaps the most sensitive subject, which it questioned, was that of religion. For centuries it had gone unscathed by the changing world. Suddenly it became something that could no longer be passively accepted it was something to be evaluated and analyzed.