How did the Enlightenment evaluate the role of religion in public life?

The curiosity and spirit of reform that was inspired by the Enlightenment did not stop at government, Enlightened philosophers and the educated challenge their government which is evident in the revolutions and reforms that took place during this time but they also began to question relgion and the role it played in their daily lives. Philosophers and everday ctizens began to become critical of relgious truths and explanations of the unknown phenomenon of that time. People soon began to turn to science and inductive reasoning to solve mysteries and unexplainable circumstance. For the most part people in the Enlightement and onward began to reduce the value they placed on religous explanations and restrictions on everyday life. Even thoguh some began to rely entirely on inductive reasoning the majority of the population still followed religious doctrine and explanation on many matters and most did not go so far as to believe only in thier own reasoning.

Source for photo: http://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/philosophy/jw/reasoning/teaching.htm

Smith, Bonnie G., Richard Von Glahn, and Kris E. Lane. Crossroads and Cultures: A History of the World's Peoples. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. Print.