Temple of Reason


A Temple of Reason was, during the French Revolution, a state atheist temple for a new belief system created to replace Christianity: the Cult of Reason, 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" motto, which was also inscribed on the Temples.

Services

The symbols of Christianity were covered up, and the symbols of the Cult of Reason replaced them. In the Churches of Reason, there were specially created services meant to replace the Christian liturgy.
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, and in front of it was a torch of Truth. The ceremony included the crowd paying homage to an opera singer dressed in blue, white, red, personifying the Goddess of Liberty.

Churches transformed into Temples of Reason

After Catholicism was banned in 1792, many of its churches were turned into Temples of Reason, including:
In the spring of 1794, the Cult of Reason was faced with official repudiation when Robespierre, nearing complete dictatorial power during the Reign of Terror, announced his own establishment of a new, deistic religion for the Republic, the Cult of the Supreme Being.

Criticism

According to the conservative critics of the French Revolution, within the Temple of Reason, "atheism was enthroned". English theologian Thomas Hartwell Horne and biblical scholar Samuel Davidson write that "churches were converted into 'temples of reason', in which atheistical and licentious homilies were substituted for the proscribed service".