The Rise of European Secularism in the 19th Century
Uploaded by platner on Jun 01, 2013
Stephanie Y. Platner
History 117 – Final Exam One
Professor Jeffrey K. Wilson
May 23, 2013
The Rise of European Secularism During the Nineteenth Century
Word Count: 2,152
In Europe, the long nineteenth century, (1789-1914) was a tumultuous era of political, economic, and social revolution which created an increasingly secular culture. Europeans of all races and classes looked outside the church to solve societal and familial issues. Gifted intellectuals proposed new philosophies on human thought and behavior, while innovative communication allowed ideas to travel quicker and easier than ever before. By the early 1800’s, Europeans began to question the role and necessity of the church and religion in their lives. Revolutionaries developed political and social ideologies based on the Enlightenment values of reason, analysis and science, instead of religion, dogma and superstition. During the 1790’s, profound political changes created new and unique ways to adapt to a modern secular society. New constitutional governments were formed in response to mass political uprisings when French citizens rejected monarchical absolutism and forced the Catholic Church to become subordinate to the government. Scientific advancements and industrialization, both contributed to the growing secularization of European society. British industrial workers adopted non-religious political ideologies by creating organizations like the “Chartists,” which protected workers and lobbied for universal suffrage. Europeans repudiated tyrannical governments, adopted non-religious political ideologies, and inspired the rise of alternative community associations. The innovations of the 19th century created a new, secular society, and inaugurated the modern, industrial world.
In the two centuries prior to the Revolution of 1789, many Europeans had subscribed to the political and religious doctrine of “divine-right,” which asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving the right to rule directly from the will of God. Therefore, kings – not subject to the will of the people, aristocracy or any other estate of the realm, could rule with absolute supremacy, and were only accountable to God as a higher authority. As an “extension of God’s power on earth,” King Louis XVI of France believed in his own divine monarchical power; however, Enlightenment intellectuals such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Voltaire began questioning the king’s authority as absolute ruler of France. The validity of the divine-right doctrine had not been widely challenged in public until the era of Enlightenment. Divine-right had served as the basis for monarchical power, and was also the premise behind the authority of “ordained” clergy to act as intermediaries...