Why modern democracy still relies on a radical 18th-century rebellion

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 17 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: We often view the Enlightenment as a simple era of polite debate and scientific progress. But beneath that surface lies a much more radical history—one that fundamentally restructured how we manage human belief in public spaces to prevent religious authority from dictating civil law.

Modern secular states are built on a specific settlement: they protect private convictions while removing religious ambitions from the governance of the public square. This balance is not an accident of history but a deliberate legacy of Enlightenment thinkers who faced a dual crisis. They had to reconcile the deep commitment individuals feel toward religious worldviews with the demands of freethinkers who sought to challenge those very beliefs.

While figures like Locke and Voltaire are often cited for promoting tolerance, Professor Justin Champion highlights a more radical strain indebted to the materialism of Hobbes and Spinoza. These thinkers recognized that while humans naturally seek transcendence through an internal sense of conscience, the public dimensions of this human condition require civic management. They argued that these matters should not be left solely to the devices of churchmen, who often claim a distinctive source of authority over civil society.

Today, we see a 'return of religion' where various faiths again seek to shape legislation and social values. This poses a direct challenge to post-Enlightenment assumptions that faith is strictly a private matter. The modern resolution—a just measure of Enlightened legal secularism flavored with the free broadcast of skepticism—is being tested in real-time, from debates over laicité in France to ongoing legal challenges regarding the separation of Church and State in the United States.

Rather than erasing faith, the Enlightenment limited where true worship occurred, thereby shielding religious practice from state oppression. By subjecting all religious claims to fundamental scrutiny, it created a framework where conscience is protected but public authority remains secular. To navigate current environmental and social catastrophes, Champion suggests we must return to these radical insights of freethinkers.

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