Enlightment Essay

Enlightenment-

The shift from the Puritan movement, to the Enlightenment movement became a straight-forward and beneficial in America's history. Who were the Puritans one may ask? Well, the Puritans were a group originating from the protestant church from England. Beginning their movement in the late 1600's, early 1700's. They didn't believe the way the Church ran, and what they preached. Therefore, the Puritans began to reform. To find the freedom of religion, they sailed to America. They began to believe that the God could reward the good, and punish the bad. They believed that everything someone does, would be to please their god.
Time flew, and at a certain point of time, believes by the puritans would be questioned, and doubted. This would officially begin the Enlightenment movement. This movement would establish that beliefs were based on reasoning. That people would be able to scientifically prove someones belief. It really disheveled the view on the world and religion. Beliefs would soon state that instead of waiting on a sign from God, like the Puritans would do, they would act upon certain measures. This would change how people acted upon God, and how they please their God. In which I believe was an improvement on how people think.

Therefore, The shift from the Puritan movement to the Enlightenment movement was a positive shift. It increased the logic of religion. If it wasn't for the Enlightenment movement, religion would not be open for logic. There wouldn't be religion such as Islamic, Christianity, etc. We would all believe the same thing. No way to look at the world differently. The Enlightenment movement to this day gives more reasoning. It shows that different views would and should be taken upon the world.

I chose this image because it shows the average human accepting enlightenment. It shows that the mind is open to reasoning. It shows that one is capable of what they believe, and developing a perspective. The darkness in the background represents the dullness and lack of individuality to not have a personal view.

Links: Enlightenment Photo
http://agnosticbuddhism.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/enlightenment/