Etching of the festival of the Supreme Being, 8 June 1794.

Painting of the same festival

On the cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand, "The French people recognizes the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul". Clermont-Ferrand ( Auvergnat dialect of Occitan: Clarmont-Ferrand / Clarmont d'Auvèrnhe) is a city and commune of France

The Cult of the Supreme Being (French: Culte de l'Être suprême) was a religion based on deism devised by Maximilien Robespierre, intended to become the state religion after the French Revolution. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (maksimiljɛ̃ fʁɑ̃swa maʁi izidɔʁ də ʁɔbɛspjɛʁ ( 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an

Robespierre believed that there was someone who was watching over France, and that was the Supreme Being. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The cult represents an innovation in the "de-Christianization" of French society during the Revolution, in that Robespierre sought to move beyond simple agnosticism (often described as Voltairean by its adherents) to a new and, in his view, more rational devotion to the Godhead. The Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies conducted by various governments of France between François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French (Compare the cult of Reason, advocated by Jacques Hébert and the enragés, and explicitly opposed to Robespierre's more theistic concept of the Supreme Being. The Cult of Reason (Culte de la Raison was a creed based on Secularism and Atheism devised during the French Revolution by Jacques Hébert Jacques René Hébert ( November 15, 1757 &mdash March 24, 1794) was editor of the extreme radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne Les Enragés (literally "the Enraged Ones" were a radical group active during the French Revolution of 1789 opposed to the Jacobins. Theism, in its most inclusive usage is the belief in at least one Deity. )

It became popular for devout revolutionaries to baptise their children not with Father, Son and Holy Ghost but with Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the slogan of the French Revolution. The trinitarian formula is the phrase " in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit " (original Greek εις το ονομα Liberté égalité fraternité, French for " Liberty, equality, fraternity ( Brotherhood)" is the motto

Robespierre's proclamation of the cult as the new state religion in 1794 was possibly one of the factors that prompted the Thermidorian Reaction. Year 1794 ( MDCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. The Cult of the Supreme Being was thus aborted instantly.

This new state religion by Robespierre did not allow freedom of religion, which angered the population of France because it contradicted the supposed ideals of freedom of the Revolution.

See also

• Reign of Terror

External links

• The Cult of the Supreme Being at Rotten Library