.. Protestantism, in its quest for 'rational knowledge' of God's purpose and for an understanding of this world, engendered its own demise, for it lent legitimacy to a secular science that in turn rejected and devalued all religious values. And in this respect, Protestantism effectively devalued or disenchanted itself, for in its attempt to prove its own intrinsic rationality through non-religious means it affirmed the value of science, and with this laid itself open to the charge of irrationalism and to attack from the outside from 'rational', secular forms of this-worldly legitimation.Nicholas Gane
About This Quote
The argument here is that the Protestant Reformation caused the downfall of Western Civilization. The Protestant Reformation was a religious movement that split Christianity into two separate sects, Protestants and Catholics. While the Protestants separated from the Catholic Church to form their own religion, they were not able to create a new religion that did not have any similarities with the Catholic Church. Thus, the Protestant Church became an offshoot of Catholicism which did not have any new ideas or beliefs that could better serve society.
The result was that people who were not members of the Catholic Church could no longer form their own religious beliefs. This led to the creation of many individual religions which began to fight against each other in an attempt to prove themselves to be more popular than others. The Protestant Reformation also contributed to the end of Western Civilization because it made men believe that there were no divine or rational laws in place which governed man's behavior.
Men started believing that people be they rich or poor had free will and were free to do whatever they wanted without any repercussions in life in exchange for their money and material goods in this world.
Source: Max Weber And Postmodern Theory: Rationalization Versus Reenchantment
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