The Age of Reason and Religion

When it came to The Age of Reason, also known as The Enlightenment, there were many different layers of beliefs linked to the 18th century past time. In Thomas Jefferson's Query XVII: Religion, science and government were brought to the front of the line, since dealing with Christianity or religion in general. The Age of Reason was a representation of the way man viewed himself, knowledge, and the universe.

Taking scientific knowledge, this document takes the discoveries that philosophers made, and turned them into a discovery of negativity. When these accusations were being made, government declared it false and the philosophers would go through inquisition for their findings. These philosophers were not trying to go against the government, but the government happened to go against the scientific happenings. Scientists of the 18th century thought the people should use their findings to free themselves from ignorance- and therefore become enlightened. . In this document about Religion, scientific knowledge and how it was handled was mentioned easily. For example, Galileo was sent to the Inquisition for affirming that the earth was indeed a sphere. With that information, they immediately declared it as flat and Galileo was obliged to retract his error (Leonard, McMichael 294).

When it came to religion, it was utter commotion. While church officials convicted the philosopher's theories, they continued to research and explore their new found ideas. Through the development of these ideas, more people started to question their own ideas about the laws that they had come to accept. An argument sparked the overwhelming focusing on new advanced science, which led to discoveries- which happened to lead the contradictory of the bible. The scientific revolution was a time for the religious, and forever changed the European society. The discoveries of science that were made disrupted the Europeans' orderly world, and then made people doubt the significance of their religion itself (Wade 2002). "Creating" the world of independent thought, the production of the scientific religion gave the people a reason to question how things work and not just assuming it was God's word of wisdom.

The social consequence, which is taken from inside Jefferson's Query XVII: Religion, is that there was a decline in church reputation, which began when the citizens no longer believed or relied on God for their daily human affairs. Like stated before, the people were so reliant on God's word- which was a primary life of the people. Although, the rules of the people have changed and they became