What Was The Role Of Religion In The 18th Century

Throughout the whole world, cultures have used religion as justification for personal gain. From ancient theocracies to the values and opinions of people in modern times, religion is the used as the excuse or cause of a phenomenon. Religion can be used in texts written by anyone, no matter their status. Europeans used religion to support their own self-interest, but common people used religion to lessen the power of the elite, while those with authority used it to increase their power. Common people attempted to decrease the power of lords and kings by means of religious customs and beliefs. Because ordinary people had no power at all in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, the kings, nobility, and those with higher status often took advantage of them. They grew tired of this and eventually implemented undeniable and well known religious beliefs to take back some rights. During the German Peasants War, the peasants became sick of this injustice and wrote the 12 Articles, part of which stated “we will not hereafter allow ourselves to be oppressed by our
The peasants, who were commonly neglected or looked down upon, notice injustice and use religion to support it. At this time, religion is used as their main form of evidence to make both the common people and nobles and kings realize that God wants people to be just and fair. The Dutch Act of Abjuration, the document that allowed Dutch people to separate from the cruel power of Spain, states “God did not create the people slaves to their prince” (The Dutch Act of Abjuration p. 46). Again, the peasants are not requesting more power than lords, but they do think power should be more evenly balanced. They think this because it seems to them God wants people to be equal, and they try to explain this in a way that everyone would understand. A popular piece of art at the time, which demonstrated the idea of equality was the Great Chain of Being. This was a hierarchy of all living things with God at the top. In