Editing Reign of Terror (section)

=== Religious upheaval ===
[[File:Miniac-Morvan (35) Église Saint-Pierre Intérieur 11.jpg|thumb|Nuns in a cart taking them to the guillotine in [[Cambrai]] on 26 June 1794]]
The Reign of Terror was characterized by a dramatic rejection of long-held religious authority, its hierarchical structure, and the corrupt and intolerant influence of the [[aristocracy]] and clergy. Religious elements that long stood as symbols of stability for the French people, were replaced by views on reason and scientific thought.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pressense |first1=Edmond |title=Religion and the reign of terror, or, The church during the French revolution |last2=Lacroix |first2=John |date=1869 |publisher=Carlton & Lanahan; Hitchcock & Walden |series=World constitutions illustrated |location=New York : Cincinnati}}{{Page needed|date=June 2022}}</ref>{{Sfn|Kennedy|1989|p=343}} The radical revolutionaries and their supporters desired a cultural revolution that would rid the French state of all Christian influence.<ref name="Lynn Hunt p 3">{{Cite book |last=Hunt |first=Lynn |title=Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-5209-3104-6 |pages=87–120 |chapter=The Imagery of Radicalism |doi=10.1525/9780520931046-011 |s2cid=226772970}}</ref> This process began with the [[Absolute monarchy in France|fall of the monarchy]], an event that effectively defrocked the state of its sanctification by the clergy via the [[Divine right of kings|doctrine of Divine Right]] and ushered in an era of reason.{{Sfn|Popkin|2016|pp=72–73}}

Many long-held rights and powers were stripped from the [[Catholic Church]] and given to the state. In 1789, church lands were expropriated and priests killed or forced to leave France.<ref name="Lynn Hunt p 3"/> Later in 1792, "refractory priests" were targeted and replaced with their secular counterpart from the [[Jacobins|Jacobin club]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Report by the Jacobin Society of Besançon on Refractory Priests |date=8 January 1792 |url=https://revolution.chnm.org/d/548 |access-date=9 December 2021 |archive-date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209015307/https://revolution.chnm.org/d/548 |url-status=live }}</ref> Not all religions experienced equal aggression; the Jewish community, on the contrary, received admittance into French citizenship in 1791.<ref>{{Citation |title="Admission of Jews to Rights of Citizenship," 27 September 1791 |date=27 September 1791 |url=https://revolution.chnm.org/d/287 |access-date=9 December 2021 |archive-date=26 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626015107/https://revolution.chnm.org/d/287/ |url-status=live }}</ref> A [[Cult of Reason|Festival of Reason]] was held in the [[Notre-Dame de Paris|Notre Dame Cathedral]], which was renamed "The Temple of Reason", and the traditional calendar was replaced with a [[French Republican calendar|new revolutionary one]].{{Sfn|Popkin|2016|pp=72–73}} The leaders of the Terror tried to address the call for these radical, revolutionary aspirations, while at the same time trying to maintain tight control on the [[Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution|de-Christianization movement]] that was threatening to the clear majority of the still devoted Catholic population of France. Robespierre used the event as a means to combat the "moral counterrevolution" taking place among his rivals.<ref>{{Citation |title=Robespierre, "On Political Morality" |date=5 February 1794 |url=https://revolution.chnm.org/d/413 |access-date=9 December 2021 |archive-date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209015303/https://revolution.chnm.org/d/413 |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, he hoped to stem "the monster atheism" that was a result of the radical secularization in philosophical and social circles.<ref>{{Citation |title=Religion: The Cult of the Supreme Being |date=8 June 1794 |url=https://revolution.chnm.org/d/436 |access-date=9 December 2021 |archive-date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209015301/https://revolution.chnm.org/d/436 |url-status=live }}</ref> The tension sparked by these conflicting objectives laid a foundation for the "justified" use of terror to achieve revolutionary ideals and rid France of the religiosity that revolutionaries believed was standing in the way.