Before the fifteenth century a common theme kept through the years was the thought of how religion is an important and fundamental element of our society and to throw away such a gift was to throw away common sense. However after the fifteenth century, especially after the Enlightenment period, that opinion changes greatly. Afterward it was thought that to push aside the idea of God is to being doing the right thing in the pursuit of higher knowledge and understanding.
After the Enlightenment period up to current dates the debate on religion has been ongoing, both sides having conquered and lost ground in the struggle. With one side claiming for knowledge and the other for faith the deciding factor comes down from the people, usually varying on its opinion depending on the time period in which it was being argued.
The Enlightenment period really was the kick-off point for all of these debates, and is the start of humans as a society moving away from the persistent thought of God. In Ernst Cassirer’s book The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (1932) he believes that Enlightenment was "a part and a special phase of the whole intellectual development through which modern philosophic thought gained its characteristic self-confidence and self-consciousness". Ernst thought that it was very natural for humans to start to questions these thoughts as we develop, and that the fact that we have the ability to question God means that we have every more right too. Just as Rene Descartes said ‘Je pense donc je suis’. To question and argue and debate over what is real and what is not is one of society's greatest gift and it was this idea which thrived during the Enlightenment period.
After the Enlightenment some religious beliefs had been fully pushed away by certain people while many turned to Deism. Deism holds that God does not intervene with the functioning of the natural world but rather allows it to function according to the laws of nature. It seems to be a compromise between two extremes of overly religious in faith and those who were atheists. It gained followers all through Europe in the 17th century from people born and raised in another faith who did not fully believe in notions such as the Trinity, Biblical inerrancy and the supernatural interpretation of events such as miracles. It was the acknowledgement of a higher power who was subtle enough to not meddle and have requirements in the lives of its believers.
In the end, the 17th century and further was a confusing and complicated time period that lead to many battles and many innocent citizens falling victim to others beliefs. The constant back and forth of beliefs led to constant strife and strain on the new generations seeing as along with their new air of independence as they moved through the centuries they also now had a choice of what they believed in rather than having a religion taught to them since their birth.
