Editing Encyclopédie (section)

===Religious and political controversies===
The authors of the ''Encyclopédie'' challenged religious authority. The authors, especially Diderot and d'Alembert, located religion within a system of reason and philosophy. They did not reject all religious claims, but believed theology and notions of [[God]] must be proven. [[Louis de Jaucourt]] therefore harshly criticized superstition as an intellectual error in his article on the topic.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Josephson-Storm | first = Jason | title = The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences | location = Chicago | publisher = University of Chicago Press | date = 2017 |pages = 51–2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xZ5yDgAAQBAJ | isbn = 978-0-226-40336-6 }}</ref> The writers further doubted the authenticity of presupposed historical events cited in the Bible and questioned the validity of miracles, such as the Resurrection.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lyons|first=Martyn|title=Books: A Living story|date=2011|publisher=Getty Publications|location=Los Angeles|isbn=978-1-60606-083-4|page=106}}</ref> However, some contemporary scholars argue the skeptical view of miracles in the ''Encyclopédie'' may be interpreted in terms of "[[Protestant]] debates about the cessation of the [[Charismatic Christianity|charismata]]."<ref>Josephson-Storm (2017), p. 55</ref>

These challenges led to suppression from church and state authorities. The ''Encyclopédie'' and its contributors endured many attacks and attempts at censorship by the clergy or other censors, which threatened the publication of the project as well as the authors themselves. The [[Curia regis#France|King's Council]] suppressed the ''Encyclopédie'' in 1759.<ref>[http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=780 "Diderot's Encyclopedia"]. Historical Text Archive.</ref> The [[Catholic Church]], under [[Pope Clement XIII]], placed it on its [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|list of banned books]]. Prominent intellectuals criticized it, most famously [[Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan|Lefranc de Pompignan]] at the [[Académie française|French Academy]]. A playwright, [[Charles Palissot de Montenoy]], wrote a play called ''Les Philosophes'' to criticize the ''Encyclopédie''.<ref>Andrew S. Curran, Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely, Other Press, 2019, ISBN 9781590516706, p. 183-6</ref> When Abbé [[André Morellet]], one of the contributors to the ''Encyclopédie'', wrote a mock preface for it, he was sent to the [[Bastille]] due to allegations of libel.<ref>{{cite book|last=Aldridge|first=Alfred Owen|title=Voltaire and the Century of Light|year=2015|publisher=Princeton Legacy Library|pages=266|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEl9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA266|isbn=9781400866953}}</ref>

To defend themselves from controversy, the encyclopedia's articles wrote of theological topics in a mixed manner. Some articles supported orthodoxy, and some included overt criticisms of Christianity. To avoid direct retribution from censors, writers often hid criticism in obscure articles or expressed it in ironic terms.<ref>Lough, p. 236</ref> Nonetheless, the contributors still openly attacked the Catholic Church in certain articles with examples including criticizing excess festivals, monasteries, and celibacy of the clergy.<ref>Lough, pp. 258–66</ref>