Celebration of the “Supreme Being”

The Cult of Reason was part of a process of de-Christianisation promoted by the French Revolution. It preceded the establishment of the Cult of the Supreme Being in 1794.
Supposed to be free of dogma, this new religion sought to teach citizens a ‘natural’ morality. Reason, as an object of worship, was sometimes presented as Supreme Reason – without reference to a god – ensuring the triumph of truth over error, and sometimes as Human Reason, described as an emanation and a gift from the divine. The morality taught was ‘virtue’, that is to say, obedience to the laws and to the Republic.