Cult of the Supreme Being
The Cult of the Supreme Being (French: Culte de l'Être suprême)[note 1] was a form of theocratic deism established by Maximilien Robespierre during the French Revolution as the intended state religion of France and a replacement for its rival, the Cult of Reason, and of Roman Catholicism. It went unsupported after the fall of Robespierre and, along with the Cult of Reason, was officially banned by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.
Cult of the Supreme Being
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Robespierre believed that reason is only a means to an end, and the singular end is virtue. He sought to move beyond simple deism (often described as Voltairean by its adherents) to a new and, in his view, more rational devotion to the godhead. The primary principles of the Cult of the Supreme Being were a belief in the existence of a god and the immortality of the human soul.[9] These beliefs were put to the service of Robespierre's fuller meaning, which was of a type of civic-minded, public virtue he attributed to the Greeks and Romans.[10] This type of virtue could only be attained through active fidelity to liberty and democracy.[11] Belief in a living god and a higher moral code, he said, were "constant reminders of justice" and thus essential to a republican society.[12]
On 7 May 1794, the National Convention established the Worship of the Supreme Being; the opening clauses of the Decree Establishing the Worship of the Supreme Being of the 18th Floréal of the Year II declared:[13]
He dedicated festivals to the Supreme Being, to Truth, Justice, Modesty, Friendship, Frugality, Fidelity, Immortality, Misfortune, etc. The Cult of the Supreme Being was based on the creed of the Savoy chaplain that Jean-Jacques Rousseau had outlined in Book IV of Emile.
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Legacy[edit]
The Cult of the Supreme Being and its festival may have contributed to the Thermidorian Reaction and the downfall of Robespierre.[18] According to Madame de Staël, it was from that time he was lost.[26][27] With his death at the guillotine on 28 July 1794, the cult lost all official sanction and disappeared from public view.[28] It was officially banned by Napoleon on 8 April 1802 with his Law on Cults of 18 Germinal, Year X.[29]
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Revolutionary impact[edit]
Robespierre used the religious issue to publicly denounce the motives of many radicals not in his camp, and it led, directly or indirectly, to the executions of Revolutionary de-Christianisers like Hébert, Momoro, and Anacharsis Cloots.[4] The establishment of the Cult of the Supreme Being represented the beginning of the reversal of the wholesale de-Christianization process that had been looked upon previously with official favour.[14] Simultaneously it marked the apogee of Robespierre's power. Though in theory he was just an equal member of the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre at this point possessed an unrivalled national prominence.[15]
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