Comparing The Enlightenment And The Church

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The Enlightenment and the Church The Enlightenment Era was the time when European powers and intellectuals dominated the world with their trade and communication. Intellectuals brought in their discoveries and ideas, influencing the people, beginning a movement, coming after many economic, political, and social changes. The scientific discoveries and ideas shaped the use of reason to realize how the world worked. The Enlightenment Era gave people a more clear understanding of the physical universe, world relationships, and mother nature. The ideas and scientific discoveries presented by the intellectuals seemed to challenge the authority and beliefs of the Catholic Church however, many were actually compatible. The source of the Catholic Church’s concern towards these ideas and discoveries stemmed from the founders of them. Scientists such as Copernicus and Galileo, and philosophers such as Rene Descartes, John Locke, and Jean-Jaques Rousseau all were simply making observations about life and the Earth. The Catholic Church interpreted these new ideas and observations as threats and stepped out of their boundary to scold and tried seizing their thoughts. In the 1500’s, people believed that…show more content…
Although Descartes was a devout Catholic, he was accused of deism and therefore considered a heretic. Descartes “attempted to prove the existence of God, in order to guarantee the rest of human knowledge.”2 Descartes and his idea of God was misinterpreted by the Church. Descartes believed in God and was trying to prove to the world that God exists and the soul is immortal. Although the Church and Descartes’ thoughts were really compatible, the Church misinterpreted Descartes’ intent. According to the Church, Descartes “unwittingly placed a huge wedge between faith and reason.” 3As a result, they made sure his writings were
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