ABSTRACT
The Enlightenment project, as is well known, was in large part a reaction against the horrors of the ‘wars of religion’ that had ravaged Europe from the time of the Reformation. This is not to suggest that the crucial figures of the Enlightenment were uniformly opposed to religion in all its forms as the ultimate cause of the distress of Europe. Some, like Voltaire and most of the leading French Enlightenment figures, blamed religion for most of the ills from which Europe suffered, and sought an entirely secular society in Europe. The Scottish Enlightenment as a whole, with the notable exception of David Hume, was far more sympathetic to the Christian faith, and indeed many of its prominent figures were clergymen. But, for all that, they were very critical of the ‘fanaticism’ and violence that had characterized much Scottish, and European, religion in the seventeenth century.
