Editing Napoleon (section)

=== Religious beliefs ===
Napoleon was baptized in [[Ajaccio]] on 21 July 1771 and raised a Roman Catholic. He began to question his faith at age 13 while at Brienne.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|pp=239-41}} Biographers have variously described him from that time as a [[Deism|deist]], a follower of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau's]] "natural religion" or a believer in destiny. He consistently expressed his belief in a God or creator.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=236}}

He understood the power of organized religion in social and political affairs and later sought to use it to support his regime.<ref>{{cite web |title=L'Empire et le Saint-Siège |url=http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/Empire_Saint-Siege_Napoleon_religion.asp   |publisher=Napoleon.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919124850/http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/Empire_Saint-Siege_Napoleon_religion.asp |archive-date=19 September 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|pp=236-37}} His attitude to religion is often described as utilitarian.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=235}}{{sfnp|Dwyer|2013|p=84}} In 1800 he stated, "it was by making myself a Catholic that I won the war in the Vendée, by making myself a Moslem that I established myself in Egypt, by making myself an [[Ultramontanism|ultramontane]] that I turned men's hearts towards me in Italy. If I were to govern a nation of Jews I would rebuild the [[Temple in Jerusalem|Temple of Solomon]]."{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=235}}

Napoleon had a [[civil marriage]] with Joséphine in 1796 and, at the pope's insistence, a private religious ceremony with her the day before his coronation as emperor in 1804. This marriage was annulled by tribunals under Napoleon's control in January 1810.<ref>{{cite web |title=Napoleon's "divorce" |url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/napoleons-divorce/ | website=Napoleon.org |archive-date=21 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071220/https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/napoleons-divorce/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In April 1810, Napoleon married Austrian princess Marie Louise in a Catholic ceremony. Napoleon was [[excommunicated]] by the pope through the bull ''[[Quum memoranda]]'' in 1809.{{sfnp|Ellis|1997a|p=248}} His will in 1821 stated, "I die in the Apostolical Roman religion, in the bosom of which I was born, more than fifty years since."{{sfnp|Conner|2004|p=197}} Napoleon read the [[Koran]] in translation and had an interest in [[Islam]] and the [[Orient]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Youssef |first=Ahmed |title=Napoléon et l'islam, l'anti-croisade |url=https://www.napoleon.org/histoire-des-2-empires/articles/napoleon-et-lislam-lanti-croisade/  |website=Napoleon.org |date=January 2023 |language=fr |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202073213/https://www.napoleon.org/histoire-des-2-empires/articles/napoleon-et-lislam-lanti-croisade/ |url-status=live}}</ref> He also defended [[Muhammad]] ("a great man") against [[Voltaire|Voltaire's]] ''[[Mahomet (play)|Mahomet]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cases |first=Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné comte de Las Cases |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5XUuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA94 |title=Memoirs of the Life, Exile, and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon |date=1855 |publisher=Redfield |page=94 |volume=2}}</ref>