We know from historical records that The Spirit of the Laws by Baron de Montesquieu was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Catholic Church. Which of the following can one reasonably infer from this fact?

a: the enlightenment challenged the traditional authority of the church.

b: the enlightenment called for equality of opportunity for women.

c: enlightenment thinkers published a series of lengthy encyclopedias.

d: enlightenment thinkers called for the overthrow of governments.

The enlightenment challenged the traditional authority of the church.

Explanation:

Enlightenment was a late 17th and 18th century intellectual, cultural, philosophical and social movement. The enlightenment thinkers were liberals and emphasized individualism, reason and skepticism. They advocated the ideals of tolerance, progress, constitutional government fraternity and separation of state and church.

They challenged the traditional religious views and authority of the church. John Locke, Thomas Hobbs, Montesquieu and Rousseau were some famous enlightenment thinkers.

According to enlightenment thinkers the main source of legitimacy and authority was reason. Montesquieu developed the concept of separation of powers, according to him a government should be divided into separate branches - executive, judicial and legislative, so that no one branch could gain too much power. Due to such ideas that were against the dominance of church, his book The Spirit was banned by Catholic Church, but this book was praised in the rest of Europe. It was included in the list of Prohibited books. It also influenced the founding fathers of US constitution.