225 years ago: France establishes the Cult of Reason

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; Psalms 33:12a

On November 10, 1793, the Fête de la Raison was proclaimed in France. The celebration of atheism was supervised by revolutionaries Jacques Hébert and Antoine-François Momoro, transforming churches into Temples of Reason, with reported incidents of licentiousness and debauchery. Six days later, the secular humanist regime ordered the mass drowning of 90 Roman Catholic priests at Nantes.

The Cult of Reason, part of the dechristianization of France during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, proved to be too much even for French revolutionary leader Maximilien de Robespierre, President of the Committee of Public Safety. Mr. Robespierre, a deist, opposed dechristianization, and established the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being early in the spring of 1794. Several leaders of the Cult of Reason were guillotined, effectively ending the cult's brief existence.