Niccolò Machiavelli believed in strong secularism. According to Machiavelli, citizens should place nothing (not even God) above the state. The state and the state alone existed to provide citizens with security.
Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy on May 3, 1469. Intrigued by government and philosophy at a young age, Machiavelli dedicated fourteen years of his life as a diplomat to the Florentine Republic.
When the Medici family regained authority of Florence, Machiavelli was dismissed of his position and thrown into jail. Here, Machiavelli found himself studying Roman literature and composing his own works regarding man’s potential in monarchial governance.
One of these works, The Prince (1532), takes a realistic approach on the capabilities of a powerful ruler. In this respect, The Prince defines the humanist values of the Renaissance.
Secularism is the fourth and final Renaissance doctrine that heavily influences Machiavelli’s The Prince. Secularists of the Renaissance promoted full separation of Church and government. Similarly, Machiavelli never uses religious reasoning to back his claims in his book. While he mentions that common people have strong ties to religion, it is evident that he believes spiritual argument is futile. Instead of being bound by supernatural or religious forces imposed by the Church, Machiavelli argues that man himself holds the ability to control his own destiny, which is why scientific logic reigns superior in the assertions of The Prince.
The Prince is considered a great work of its time because of its ability to move with the secularist movement of the Renaissance and break away from prevailing religious themes. Machiavelli even pushes readers to a further level of secularism, advising them to take his political strategies and challenge the Church as an institution of power.
To learn more, see this presentation: The Spirit of the Renaissance Niccolò Machiavelli, shared by Beaver.k12.oh.us.
For further reading, refer to MU.edu's Machiavelli: Renaissance Political Philosopher.