The French Revolution was way more sinister than you think.
In a frenzy to purge all aspects of Christian life, they even changed the calendar and UNITS OF TIME.
10-hour days, 100-minute hours, 100-second minutes.
Then they made a new religion — the Cult of Reason… 🧵
In a frenzy to purge all aspects of Christian life, they even changed the calendar and UNITS OF TIME.
10-hour days, 100-minute hours, 100-second minutes.
Then they made a new religion — the Cult of Reason… 🧵
From 1793 to 1795, France mandated "metric time": 10 hours in a day, 100 minutes in an hour, etc.
In their zeal to remake society, revolutionaries deemed this an essential step to becoming truly "rational".
In their zeal to remake society, revolutionaries deemed this an essential step to becoming truly "rational".
Authorities created new clocks to make people adjust to the new units, and went about checking that the new times/dates went on all public documents.
Weeks now had 10 days: 9 work and 1 rest, extending the work week for "productivity".
Crucially, the 7th day (day of church attendance) was an ordinary work day — to make people lose track of it.
Crucially, the 7th day (day of church attendance) was an ordinary work day — to make people lose track of it.
The point was to weed out all influence of Christianity, right down to the Gregorian calendar.
All saints' days and religious holidays were abolished, and all months renamed (e.g. December became Nivôse, from the Latin for snowy).
All saints' days and religious holidays were abolished, and all months renamed (e.g. December became Nivôse, from the Latin for snowy).
December 25 was reassigned to Isaac Newton's birthday instead of Christ's.
Time itself was reset — the Republic's founding year, 1792, became the official year 1.
Time itself was reset — the Republic's founding year, 1792, became the official year 1.
It wasn't only hatred of Christianity, but of all traditional influence on society.
Man was inherently good (as Rousseau had put it), and need only be freed from the traditions that chained him…
Man was inherently good (as Rousseau had put it), and need only be freed from the traditions that chained him…
Dechristianization of course extended to churches and public spaces.
Revolutionaries in Paris smashed the radiant stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle and remade Notre-Dame as a Temple to Reason.
Revolutionaries in Paris smashed the radiant stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle and remade Notre-Dame as a Temple to Reason.
They even went into graveyards and stripped them of crosses. One Jacobin commander decreed that cemetery gates only be allowed to say one thing:
"Death is an eternal sleep."
"Death is an eternal sleep."
And from 1790, any clergy member that didn't swear loyalty to the state before all else was in grave danger.
30,000 of the clergy were either executed or exiled in the Reign of Terror.
30,000 of the clergy were either executed or exiled in the Reign of Terror.
So, what do you do after purging every aspect of Christian life from society?
You invent a new religion to take its place…
You invent a new religion to take its place…
The Cult of Reason was the atheistic cult (or religion of man) created to fill the void.
They thought man could be perfected through Reason, which they worshipped in congregations — while reminding themselves they weren't worshipping, but paying respect to abstractions.
They thought man could be perfected through Reason, which they worshipped in congregations — while reminding themselves they weren't worshipping, but paying respect to abstractions.
These took place with real women instead of statues, posing as (provocatively dressed) figures representing Reason.
But festivities became so depraved they caused a rift among revolutionaries, and Robespierre determined to end it.
But festivities became so depraved they caused a rift among revolutionaries, and Robespierre determined to end it.
Robespierre replaced it with the Cult of the Supreme Being, this time a deistic cult.
He mandated huge festivals to the new god and paraded as its "emissary" — observers knew the parades were really about him...
He mandated huge festivals to the new god and paraded as its "emissary" — observers knew the parades were really about him...
All this — the new calendar and the cults — was banned by Napoleon when he seized power.
Even as emperor, he knew states need fear of God above cults of man, and restored the Catholic Church to its place.
Even as emperor, he knew states need fear of God above cults of man, and restored the Catholic Church to its place.
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