ANSWERED A QUESTION FOR QUORA.COM- How did Enlightenment thinking influence the development of secular liberalism?

The Enlightenment had a profound impact in two areas.

POLITICAL- Specifically, that the tradition from the start of recorded history that the Job of Ruling and Controlling the lives of a given population was the responsibility of a special segment of society, was an Intellectual and Moral Failure. Often called “ROYALTY,” and justified by the claim that those chosen few were favored by a specific Deity or Religious Doctrine. The new idea was that all Levels of Humanity could and should be able to have a voice in the type of society they live in.

SCIENCE- That the greatest hindrance to the advancement of Science was that Religious Faith, not Logic or Critical Thinking, was making key decisions about the Nature of the Universe, and the Processes that operate within it. The Scientific Method became the direct result of not using Religious Dogma to assess the validity of Scientific Principles.

Secular is simply separating Religion, which is a purely personal choice, from becoming a measure or yardstick that ALL PEOPLE MUST OBEY. Personal choice for one, should not be the legal standard for all.