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Line 20: − + − According to researcher Rodney Stark, "The 'Enlightenment' [was] conceived initially as a propaganda ploy by [[militant atheism|militant atheists]] and [[humanism|humanists]] who attempted to claim credit for the rise of [[natural science|science]] [through promulgating] the falsehood that science required the defeat of [[religion]].'<ref>Stark, Rodney, "For The Glory of God:+ − How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-hunts and the End of Slavery", Princeton University Press, 2003, p.123, quoted in Williams, Alex, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/images/pdfs/tj/j18_2/j18_2_49-52.pdf The biblical origins of science], ''Journal of Creation'' 18(2):50, 2004.</ref> It should be pointed out that the scientific discoveries that made the philosophical precepts of the Enlightenment possible were made by men who were themselves ardent Christians and they would not have subscribed to the later view of divorcing science from God.+ − − The American Revolution did not satisfy many of the Enlightenment thinkers such as Jefferson, who then saw in the French Revolution the same kindred spirit that would embrace freedom. The results of the French Revolution and its reign of terror was not adopted in the spirit of the new Americas, and when French and England went to war, America remained neutral even though France helped the United States win its independence from Great Britain. − −
→Politics: revise
==Politics==
==Politics==
Enlightenment thought, especially the version known as [[Republicanism]], together with Christian values provided the intellectual foundations of the [[American Revolution]]. Thus Thomas Jefferson's [[Declaration of Independence]] (1776) borrowed human rights themes first developed a century before by of expression put forth by [[John Locke]].
Enlightenment thought, especially the version known as [[Republicanism]] provided the intellectual foundations of the [[American Revolution]]. Thus Thomas Jefferson's [[Declaration of Independence]] (1776) borrowed human rights themes first developed a century before by [[John Locke]].
==Ending==
There is no formal time period for when the Enlightenment ended just as there is no specific time for when it began. Politically the [[French Revolution]] of the 1790s can be seens as an end point. Culturally, the rise of the [[Romantic]] movement, with its quest for the unknown future, displaced classical Enlightenment forms, especially in music, literature and philosophy, after 1810. In other sense, the ideas and ways of thought of The Enlightenment, especially regarding the value of science, have become a permanent part of the modern world.
There is no formal time period for when the Enlightenment ended just as there is no specific time for when it began. The reality of the [[French Revolution]] is often seen as an ending point when the ideals meeting a reality of Europe torn by decades of war dampened much of the glitter. While the Enlightenment spirit was interwoven into the successful creation of the United States, the difficulties in Europe showed that the ideas alone were not the answer that was being sought.
== References ==
== References ==