Editing Victor Hugo (section)

==Religious views==
[[File:Glyptotek-Rodin-Victor Hugo.jpg|thumb|Head of Victor Hugo modeled by the sculptor [[Auguste Rodin]] and conserved at the [[Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek]] in [[Copenhagen]]]]
Hugo's religious views changed radically over the course of his life. In his youth and under the influence of his mother, he identified as a Catholic and professed respect for Church hierarchy and authority. From there he became a [[lapsed Catholic|non-practising Catholic]] and increasingly expressed anti-Catholic and [[anti-clerical]] views. He frequented [[Kardecist spiritism|spiritism]] during his exile (where he participated also in many [[séance]]s conducted by Madame [[Delphine de Girardin]])<ref>{{cite book |last=Malgras |first=J. |title=Les Pionniers du Spiritisme en France: Documents pour la formation d'un livre d'Or des Sciences Psychiques |location=Paris |year=1906 }}</ref><ref>{{lang|fr|Chez Victor Hugo. Les tables tournantes de Jersey.}} Extracts from meeting minutes published by {{lang|fr|Gustave Simon|italic=no}} in 1923</ref> and in later years settled into a [[rationalist]] [[deism]] similar to that espoused by [[Voltaire]]. A census-taker asked Hugo in 1872 if he was a Catholic, and he replied, "No. A [[Free thought|Freethinker]]."<ref>{{cite book |last=Gjelten |first=Tom |title=Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba |year=2008 |publisher=Penguin |pages=48 |isbn=9780670019786 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3BDH9FK6grMC&pg=PA48 }}</ref>

After 1872, Hugo never lost his antipathy towards the Catholic Church. He felt the Church was indifferent to the plight of the working class under the oppression of the monarchy. Perhaps he also was upset by the frequency with which his work appeared on the Church's [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|list of banned books]]. Hugo counted 740 attacks on ''Les Misérables'' in the Catholic press.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robb |first=Graham |title=Victor Hugo |year=1997 |publisher=Picador |location=London |page=32 |isbn=9780393318999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kU9LloPylhQC&pg=PA32 }}</ref> When Hugo's sons Charles and {{lang|fr|François-Victor|italic=no}} died, he insisted that they be buried without a [[crucifix]] or priest. In his will, he made the same stipulation about his own death and funeral.<ref>{{cite book |last=Petrucelli |first=Alan |title=Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous |year=2009 |publisher=Penguin |page=152 |isbn=9781101140499 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7csXXH7S9UC&pg=PT152 }}</ref>

Yet he believed in life after death and prayed every single morning and night, convinced as he wrote in ''[[The Man Who Laughs]]'' that "Thanksgiving has wings and flies to its right destination. Your prayer knows its way better than you do."<ref>Hugo, Victor. ''The Man Who Laughs'', CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014, {{ISBN|978-1495441936}}, p. 132.</ref>

Hugo's [[rationalism]] can be found in poems such as ''[[Torquemada (play)|Torquemada]]'' (1869, about [[religious fanaticism]]), ''The Pope'' (1878, [[anti-clerical]]), ''Religions and Religion'' (1880, denying the usefulness of churches) and, published posthumously, ''The End of Satan'' and ''God'' (1886 and 1891 respectively, in which he represents Christianity as a [[griffin]] and [[rationalism]] as an [[angel]]). 
''[[The Hunchback of Notre-Dame]]'' also garnered attention due to its portrayal of the abuse of power by the church, even getting listed as one of the "forbidden books" by it. In fact, earlier adaptations had to change the villain, [[Claude Frollo]] from being a priest to avoid backlash.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dappledthings.org/deep-down-things/14453/horror-abuse-scandals-and-the-hunchback-of-notre-dame|title=Horror, Abuse Scandals, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame}}</ref>

[[Vincent van Gogh]] ascribed the saying "Religions pass away, but God remains," actually by [[Jules Michelet]], to Hugo.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let294/letter.html#n-6 |title=Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh. The Hague, between about Wednesday, 13 & about Monday, 18 December 1882 |publisher=[[Van Gogh Museum]] |access-date=31 January 2012}}</ref>