Enlightenment thinkers in Britain, in France and throughout Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. The Enlightenment produced numerous books, essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions.
Enlightenment thinkers denounced magic, spells, demons, witchcraft, alchemy as superstitions. According to thinkers, supernatural forces could be explained by reference to natural forces. A wide gap opened up between the intellectual elite and the masses, related to the superstitions and traditional Christian dogma. There was a conflict between traditional Christianity and the new view of the universe which made people question the churches.
