For centuries before the Enlightenment, the Roman Catholic Church was a dominant force in society. Religion was such a huge factor of many people's lives at this point in time. Christianity was such a dominant force in Europe at this time that it was basically controlling everyone's lives. People believed that by accepting all of the hardships there were in life, and devoting themselves to God, they could expect a better afterlife. For every question that anyone ever had in the time period right before the Enlightenment, they would always turn to God for an answer. This would all soon change though when people would start looking at themselves for answers.
For a while, Christianity and the church played a significant role in European society. There were strict rules that went along with religion and the church that could not be defied by the people or they would be defying the greatest power, which was seen as God. One of the men who had an impact on the church at this time was Martin Luther. Martin Luther, was a well-known person in this revolution. He wrote the 95 Thesis, and, although it was banned, eventually it gave freedom to religion. There was a total fundamental change due to Martin Luther's proposals. His ideas said things that were important to him and many others at this time, such as fighting for everyday English to be used rather than Latin, and he stated that God could be reached anywhere, at anytime, as opposed to only in the church. People could go to God out of choice.
As trade and communication improved during the Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution, government and other aspects of life also started to pick up. New ways of law could be written now, new governments formed, and those new laws could be passed. These changes were not always brought about quickly, but they were a great new way to stabilize new forms of government. A lot of the new ideas that were shared throughout Europe in this time period were ideas that were brought over from The Americas and Asia.
