"Just keep in mind that it was the Protestant Reformation which provided much of the impetus which lead to the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and the same carried over with the advance of reason right up until today." - Slag

I believe that you have put the cart before the horse.

The "Rennaissance" and subsequent "Enlightenment" were the result of the fall of Constantinople. This resulted in a mass exodus of scholars fleeing west into Europe. They brought with them knowledge and information that the Roman Catholic Church had for centuries tried to suppress. The invention of the printing press meant that all this information could be rapidly disseminated. If the established church could be wrong about one thing it could wrong about others - that was the view that fired the "Reformations" in Europe, the "Rennaissence" fired the Protestant reformation not the other way about.