Cult of the Supreme Being

The cult of the Supreme Being (French: Culte de l' Être suprême ) belonged to other cults revolution into an ensemble civil religious festivals and beliefs during the French Revolution, which was to take the place of Christianity and Catholicism in particular in the social and political center. The de-Christianization was combined in a special way with the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being, who received at the instigation of Maximilien de Robespierre in the spring of 1794 official status, but was abandoned in the summer of the same year after his overthrow.

Content of faith

The concept of Être suprême already appears in the preamble to the reason for the text of the French Revolution, the Declaration of Human and Civil Rights of 26 August 1789., The National Assembly made ​​the statement "en présence et sous les auspices de l' Être Suprême " ( " in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme being "). The term and its philosophy of religion Content rooted in the scientifically-based skepticism of the Enlightenment against the traditional beliefs; the bandwidth of this skepticism ranged from atheism to a rationalistic, deistic, no longer purely Christian piety, which also includes the notion of a " Supreme Being " - the word "God" did not seem appropriate due to its binding to the old forms of faith - belonged. By 1794 established cult of the Supreme Being himself linked the rejection of atheism and the principle of religious freedom. He himself was based on deism, ie the belief in the existence of a supreme, supra-mundane, personal being who created the world, and recognized the immortality of the soul. However, he had the character of a socio-political context of spirituality, which did not occur in formal competition to Catholicism, Protestantism or Judaism and these include rather or give them a civil and religious expression should let them become obsolete with time; the nature of the Supreme Being was not defined, nor was there a religious dogma. The this-worldly aspects remained in the foreground: As acts of worship the exercise of civic duties was understood, it was envisaged that with the Supreme Being nature would also celebrated always. Even today, there is the concept of the Supreme Being in Freemasonry.

Introduction and withdrawal of the cult

The cult of the Supreme Being immediately preceded the cult of reason, which should counteract the survival of traditional piety in the popular veneration of revolution martyrs and of the anti -clericals ( Hébertists ) was born. The cult of reason, however, met from the outset widespread resistance in the population, and even Robespierre spoke on November 21, 1793 in the Jacobin Club expressly for the freedom of religion from. Apart from his own beliefs, which could not be reconciled with the strong atheistic embossed cult of reason, he recognized the abolition of worship a political error that overlooked the emotional needs of people and the number of the Republic of enemies at home and abroad increased. On December 6, 1793, the National Convention urged to the free exercise of religion, which he promised to maintain. However, nothing changed on the measures taken, and the churches remained civil religious temples. The status quo did not end until the end of March 1794; after the persecution and execution of Hébertists also the cult of reason was suppressed.

In Robespierre's instigation was established on May 7, 1794 by decree of the cult of the Supreme Being and included as a party in the series of national festivals. The input item of the decree clarified the deistic approach of the cult and its proximity to the traditional piety. " Le peuple français reconnait l' existence de l' Être suprême, et l' âme de l' immortalité " ( " The French people recognize the existence of Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul. " ) on June 8, 1794 by Jacques -Louis David meticulously planned consecrated " Festival of the Supreme Being " in Paris, the new cult solemnly. Robespierre personally played the central role in this event. In the Tuileries he first spoke to the people, and then lit a funeral pyre, after which a statue of atheism burned and released from inside the statue of Wisdom. The second, purely musical and religious part of the festival then took place on the Champ de Mars, where an artificial mountain with a freedom tree and a statue of the Supreme Being on a column had been built and the people spoke an oath.

The cult in particular the ceremony met with considerable disapproval and Robespierre were criticized as self- enhancement and turning away from his proverbial " incorruptibility ". However, took parts of the province population, particularly in the southeast and west of France, the new cult also. Not surprisingly, the National Convention led the cult after the fall of Robespierre on 27-28. July 1794 ( 9 Thermidor ) no longer continue and decided on 18 September, the separation of church and state, including the abolition of all support services for any priesthood. The religious policy of the French government remained unsettled repressive until settlement of Napoleon and the Catholic Church in the Concordat of 1801. Cult of the Supreme Being, who was almost immediately disappeared from the middle of 1794 without government support, had in contrast to competing cult of reason no lasting impact and remained closely connected with the person of Robespierre the criticisms of its introduction connected.

Boullée architecture for the Supreme Being

The very short existence of the cult prevented any permanent construction phases of his world of ideas. Nevertheless, there is an " imaginary architecture" that connects to the Supreme Being. The later as " Revolution architect " called Étienne -Louis Boullée projected in 1781 developed from a basic geometric shapes church called Métropole, who was explicitly a Être suprême determined. Another design Monument aux destiné hommages mode à l' Être Suprême ( For the Supreme Being owed ​​worships particular monument ) had gigantic proportions. In his 1799 posthumous work Essai sur l'art Boullée wrote: " Un édifice destiné au culte de l' Être Suprême! Voilà un sujet qui certainement comporte des idées et sublimes auquel il est nécessaire que l'architecture imprime un caracter. » ( " A building that is intended for the cult of the Supreme Being! Since we certainly have a topic that brings sublime ideas and the need to give the architecture according to expression. " )