Editing Age of Enlightenment (section)

===Debating societies===
{{Main|London Debating Societies}}
The debating societies are an example of the public sphere during the Enlightenment.<ref>Donna T. Andrew, "Popular Culture and Public Debate: London 1780," ''This Historical Journal,'' Vol. 39, No. 2. (June 1996), pp. 405–423.</ref> Their origins include:
* Clubs of fifty or more men who, at the beginning of the 18th century, met in pubs to discuss religious issues and affairs of state.
* Mooting clubs, set up by law students to practice rhetoric.
* Spouting clubs, established to help actors train for theatrical roles.
* [[John Henley (preacher)|John Henley]]'s Oratory, which mixed outrageous sermons with even more absurd questions, like "Whether Scotland be anywhere in the world?"<ref>Andrew, 406. Andrew gives the name as "William Henley," which must be a lapse of writing.</ref>

In the late 1770s, popular debating societies began to move into more "genteel" rooms, a change which helped establish a new standard of sociability.<ref>Andrew, 408.</ref> The backdrop to these developments was "an explosion of interest in the theory and practice of public elocution." The debating societies were commercial enterprises that responded to this demand, sometimes very successfully. Some societies welcomed from 800 to 1,200 spectators per night.<ref>Andrew, 406–08, 411.</ref>

The debating societies discussed an extremely wide range of topics. Before the Enlightenment, most intellectual debates revolved around "confessional"—that is, Catholic, [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]], Reformed (Calvinist) or [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] issues, debated primarily to establish which bloc of faith ought to have the "monopoly of truth and a God-given title to authority."{{Sfn|Israel|2001|p=4}} After Enlightenment, everything that previously had been rooted in tradition was questioned, and often replaced by new concepts. After the second half of the 17th century and during the 18th century, a "general process of rationalization and secularization set in" and confessional disputes were reduced to a secondary status in favor of the "escalating contest between faith and incredulity."{{Sfn|Israel|2001|p=4}}

In addition to debates on religion, societies discussed issues such as politics and the role of women. However, the critical subject matter of these debates did not necessarily translate into opposition to the government; the results of the debate quite frequently upheld the ''status quo''.<ref>Andrew, 412–15.</ref> From a historical standpoint, one of the most important features of the debating society was their openness to the public, as women attended and even participated in almost every debating society, which were likewise open to all classes providing they could pay the entrance fee. Once inside, spectators were able to participate in a largely egalitarian form of sociability that helped spread Enlightenment ideas.<ref>Andrew, 422.</ref>