Volitaire, Robespierre and Religion of Reason

Frederick R Smith has moved to Frederick R. Smith Speaks (substack.com)

Francois Marie Arouet (pen name Voltaire), 1694 – 1778, was one of France’s most celebrated and acclaimed writers and philosophers. Voltaire, as follower of the “Enlightenment,” was also known as a “philosophe.” In the spring of 1778, a decade before the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, Voltaire’s final play “Irene” opened in Paris. Voltaire, once vanquished from France, was living his last days when he attended a performance of the play. The crowds greeted him with feverish excitement.

College professors, students, and intellectual elite admire Voltaire and his fellow philosophes. Many of our esteemed elite philosophers downplay the terrors of the French Revolution, a product of the Enlightenment. It is these elites who claim that the “anti-philosophies” of yesteryear are like the modern “dark right-wing of today.” This prevents “progress.” Today conservatives are “rabid,” “radical,” “extreme,” “fundamentalist,” “right-wing Christian,” “xenophobic,” etc. For more, read the book “Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the making of Modernity“ by Darrin M. McMahon.

The anti-philosophes or “Counter-Enlightenment” was a diverse group of people. They worked to expose the dangers of unfettered enlightenment during the time of well-known writers such as Voltaire. Few writings exist about anti-philosophes, but it is fashionable to write about their “excesses.” At the same time, downplay the acts committed by many of the movers and shakers of the French Revolution such as Robespierre [1]. Furthermore, modern pro-enlightenment philosophers sweep the Jacobin’s role under the rug. A serious study shows that the members of Jacobin Club were totalitarians. They had an infatuation with conspiracy theories.

The Jacobin Club met at the former monastery of St. Jacques (Latin; Jacobus; the French name of the Dominican Order). They were the members of the French National Assembly who allowed the mob to influence voting. The Jacobins came under the influence of Robespierre, who was the real focus of the radicals and the Reign of Terror. The Jacobins first admitted the public to their meetings on October 14, 1791.

The principal worldview and driving force of the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror, was pure reason. The philosophes looked to destroy anything that was not in line with pure reason. The religion of all types was their main enemy. They believed that sin was a myth and they thought the Catholic Church to be the main culprit. While they celebrated “tolerance” they despised religion. In 1789 those who embraced philosophes nationalized all church property. Then they passed a law that made the clerics state officials. To add insult to injury, the people choose the new state-clerics (some were non-believers). Some examples of the “separation of church and state.”

It got worse. The revolutionaries worked to remove Christianity from France. They desecrated altars and destroyed church buildings. The full Reign of Terror surfaced in 1793 with full-scale butchering. This was the result of the new faith, the religion of Reason. In November 1793, Notre Dame Cathedral became the “Temple of Reason” as blood was flowing all over France. The comparison between the American Revolution and the French Revolution is spurious.

The excesses of pure reason can be problematic as some religious zealots. Can reason and faith co-exist? The answer is an absolute yes. The American Revolution is a good example of how religion and reason can work together. This also is the difference between the French and American Revolutions [2]. Here in the United States, it was the humble faith and common sense of the founding era that shaped our laws. Christians such as Dr. Benjamin Rush, collaborated with Enlightenment followers like Thomas Jefferson. Together they developed our founding principles.

For many decades we experienced a resurgence of pure reason. There is a penchant for those who are non-believers to impose their secular religion in every aspect of our lives. Christians do not wish a theocracy but must be free to express religious sentiments. The secularists force-feed their religion of twisted form of reason throughout society.

My dear friends, in 2020 we live in a time of a “cancel culture” that erases valuable history. Please pray we do not see a repeat of French Revolution due to ignorance.

1. Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (1758-94) was a French lawyer and political leader. He became one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution and the principal exponent of the Reign of Terror. Born in Arras and educated in Paris at the College of Louis-le-Grand and at the College of Law, Robespierre became a fanatical devotee of the social theories of the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. He was elected a deputy of the Estates-General that convened in May 1789, on the eve of the French Revolution, and subsequently served in the National Constituent Assembly, where his earnest and skillful oratory soon commanded attention.  In April 1790 he was elected president of the Jacobin Club and became increasingly popular as an enemy of the monarchy and as an advocate of democratic reforms. He opposed the more moderate Girondists, the dominant faction in the newly formed Legislative Assembly.
2. American independence occurred because of the colleges that many of the Founding Fathers attended. The combination of faith and reason best illustrates the teachings of Rev. Rev. Samuel Davies (1721 – 1761)). He was the president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and taught that reason and Revelation complemented each other.

Author and Publisher, Frederick R. Smith

Editor, Sean Tinney