Temple_de_la_raison,_St_Martin,_Ivry-la-Bataille

A Temple of Reason (French: ''Temple de la Raison'') was, during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, a temple for a new belief system created to replace

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

: the

Cult of Reason The Cult of Reason (french: Culte de la Raison) was France's first established state-sponsored atheistic religion, intended as a replacement for Roman Catholicism during the French Revolution. After holding sway for barely a year, in 1794 it ...

, which was based on the ideals of reason, virtue, and liberty. This "religion" was supposed to be universal and to spread the ideas of the revolution, summarized in its "

Liberté, égalité, fraternité ''Liberté, égalité, fraternité'' (), French for "liberty, equality, fraternity", is the national motto of France and the Republic of Haiti, and is an example of a tripartite motto. Although it finds its origins in the French Revolution, it ...

" motto, which was also inscribed on the Temples.

Services

The symbols of Christianity were covered up and they were replaced by the symbols of the Cult of Reason. In the Churches of Reason, there were specially created services that were meant to replace the

Christian liturgy Christian liturgy is a pattern for Christian worship, worship used (whether recommended or prescribed) by a Christian congregation or Christian denomination, denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public wor ...

For instance, at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, on 10 November 1793, a special ritual was held for the "Feast of Reason": the nave had an improvised mountain on which stood a Greek temple dedicated to Philosophy and decorated with busts of philosophers. At the base of the mountain was located an altar dedicated to Reason, in front of which was located a torch of Truth. The ceremony included the crowd paying homage to an opera singer dressed in blue, white, red (the colours of the Republic), personifying the Goddess of Liberty.James A. Herrick, ''The Making of the New Spirituality'', InterVarsity Press, 2004 , pp. 75–76

Churches transformed into Temples of Reason

After Catholicism was banned in 1792, many of its churches were turned into Temples of Reason, including: * the

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

Cathedral (10 November 1793) * the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres * the

Church of Saint-Sulpice , image = Paris Saint-Sulpice Fassade 4-5 A.jpg , image_size = , pushpin map = Paris , pushpin label position = , coordinates = , location = Place Saint-Sulpice 6th arrond ...

* the

Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis The Église Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis is a church on rue Saint-Antoine in the Marais quarter of Paris. The present building was constructed from 1627 to 1641 by the Jesuit architects Étienne Martellange and François Derand, on the orders of Louis ...

* the

Basilica of Saint-Denis The Basilica of Saint-Denis (french: Basilique royale de Saint-Denis, links=no, now formally known as the ) is a large former medieval abbey church and present cathedral in the commune of Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. The building ...

* the church of

Les Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as ...

* the church of Thomas d'Aquino * the

Panthéon de Paris The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was bu ...

* the Church Saint Pierre from Montmartre * the Cathedral of Our Lady of Reims * the

Troyes Cathedral Troyes Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Troyes) is a Catholic church, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, located in the town of Troyes in Champagne, France. It is the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Troyes. The ca ...

* the Notre Dame de Versailles Church * the Église Saint-Pierre de Caen * the Église Saint-Martin d'Ivry-la-Bataille * the Église Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur-et-Saint-Christophe d'Houdan * the Church of St. James on Coudenberg * and many others

Criticism

According to the conservative critics of the French Revolution, within the Temple of Reason, "atheism was enthroned". English theologian

Thomas Hartwell Horne Thomas Hartwell Horne (20 October 1780 – 27 January 1862) was an English theologian and librarian. Life He was born in London and educated at Christ's Hospital until he was 15 when his father died and he had to work. He then became a clerk ...

and biblical scholar

Samuel Davidson Samuel Davidson (September 18061 April 1898) was an Irish biblical scholar. Life He was born at Kellswater, County Antrim, the son of Abraham Davidson, into a Scots-Irish presbyterian. He was educated at the village school, under James Darrag ...

write that "churches were converted into 'temples of reason,' in which atheistical and licentious homilies were substituted for the proscribed service".

References

{{French Revolution Religion and the French Revolution French Revolution Atheism in France