Efforts to Understand Religion That Have Continued to the Present

Efforts to understand religion that have continued to the present day were launched by the European Enlightenment impulse toward categorically separating religion, coupled with

A) European exploration of distant lands and their unfamiliar "religions."
B) the expanding influence of British culture, which tended toward special interest in religion.
C) increased power of Hindu and Muslim nations.
D) the rise of deism and thus of a tendency to belittle the "religions" of others.