The Festival of Reason and De-Christianization
Notre-Dame is rededicated as a Temple of Reason as radicals push an anti-clerical campaign
Quick facts
- Location
- Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris
- Date
- 10 November 1793
- Movement
- Cult of Reason, led by the Hebertists
- Critic
- Georges Danton
What happened
Through late 1793, radical Hebertists pushed a campaign to strip Christianity from public life, closing churches, melting church bells for cannon, and pressuring priests to renounce their vows. On 10 November 1793 they staged a Festival of Reason at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, which had been rededicated as a Temple of Reason; the cathedral's Christian altar was dismantled in favor of an altar to Philosophy, and Sophie Momoro, wife of a leading Hebertist, played the role of the Goddess of Reason. The Cult of Reason rejected the existence of God outright in favor of Enlightenment values of liberty and rationalism, and provoked criticism even from fellow revolutionary Georges Danton for its excesses.
Why it matters
De-Christianization alienated ordinary religious French people well beyond the Vendee, feeding rural resistance to the Republic even as the Convention pursued the policy in the capital. Robespierre himself, a deist rather than an atheist, would move within months to replace the Cult of Reason with his own state-sponsored Cult of the Supreme Being, partly to check the Hebertists' influence.
How we know
World History Encyclopedia's account of the Cult of the Supreme Being documents the preceding Cult of Reason and its Notre-Dame festival, including Momoro's role and Danton's criticism of the campaign's extremism.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Cult of the Supreme Being · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Reign of Terror · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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