ATemple of Reason (French:Temple de la Raison) was, during theFrench Revolution, astate atheist temple for a new belief system created to replaceChristianity: theCult of Reason, which was based on the ideals of reason, virtue, and liberty. This "religion" was supposed to be universal and to spread the ideas of the revolution, summarized in its "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" motto, which was also inscribed on the Temples.

The symbols of Christianity were covered up, and the symbols of the Cult of Reason replaced them. In the Churches of Reason, there were specially created services meant to replace theChristian liturgy.^[1]

For instance, at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, on 10 November 1793, a special ritual was held for the "Feast of Reason": the nave had an improvised mountain on which stood a Greek temple dedicated to Philosophy and decorated with busts of philosophers. At the base of the mountain was located an altar dedicated to Reason, and in front of it was a torch of Truth. The ceremony included the crowd paying homage to an opera singer dressed in blue, white, red (the colours of the Republic),personifying theGoddess of Liberty.^[1]

After Catholicism was banned in 1792, many of its churches were turned into Temples of Reason, including:

• theNotre-Dame de Paris Cathedral (10 November 1793)
• theCathedral of Our Lady of Chartres
• theChurch of Saint-Sulpice
• theÉglise Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis
• theBasilica of Saint-Denis
• the church ofLes Invalides
• the church of Thomas d'Aquino
• thePanthéon de Paris
• the Church Saint Pierre from Montmartre
• theCathedral of Our Lady of Reims
• theTroyes Cathedral
• the Notre Dame de Versailles Church
• the Église Saint-Pierre de Caen
• the Église Saint-Martin d'Ivry-la-Bataille
• the Église Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur-et-Saint-Christophe d'Houdan
• theChurch of St. James on Coudenberg

In the spring of 1794, the Cult of Reason was faced with official repudiation whenRobespierre, nearing complete dictatorial power during theReign of Terror, announced his own establishment of a new,deistic religion for the Republic, theCult of the Supreme Being.^[2]

According to the conservative critics of the French Revolution, within the Temple of Reason, "atheism was enthroned".^[3][4] English theologianThomas Hartwell Horne and biblical scholarSamuel Davidson write that "churches were converted into 'temples of reason', in which atheistical and licentious homilies were substituted for the proscribed service".^[5]

• Religion and the French Revolution
• French Revolution
• Atheism in France
• Religious atheism

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