Do you believe that secularism leads to enlightenment?

One of the myths followed by many atheists today is that the period known as the 'Enlightenment' had ushered in an unprecedented age of scientific thought and political freedoms in reaction to the oppression of religion. However, what they don't appear to be aware of is that most of the Enlightened thinkers were religious themselves; many only opposing the institutions of their times.

While there were many thinkers attempting to divide the religious sphere from politics, many still saw atheism as a deviation from the very principles they were proposing. For example, the father of American political theory, John Locke, was very much opposed to the idea that atheist could be part of secular society:

"Lastly, those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of a God. Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist. The taking away of God, though but even in thought, dissolves all; besides also, those that by their atheism undermine and destroy all religion, can have no pretence of religion whereupon to challenge the privilege of a toleration." ("A Letter Concerning Toleration")