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The iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral

Article by:Rich Rev 2019-04-17

The iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral caught fire during renovations on Monday. The wooden roof and spire were destroyed as well as much interior damage. The media were quick to distance themselves from all suspicions of arson from various likely (or unlikely) suspects such as Islamic terrorists or the yellow vest protestors.

Anyone who is familiar with the history of the French Revolution is aware of the role the cathedral played during the revolution. The two most daring groups of revolutionary weirdos were the Cult of the Supreme Being and the Cult of Reason.

During the chaos of the French Revolution a political group of revolutionaries was formed by Jacques Hébert and Pierre Gaspard Chaumette to promote the replacement of the church with their system of belief based on anti-clericalism and the Enlightenment thinkers. They held parades, ransacked churches and sponsored public defacing of religious artifacts.

The Cult of Reason was explicitly man-centered. Its guiding principle to the goal of perfecting mankind through the attainment of Truth and Liberty was the exercise of the human faculty of Reason. They proclaimed there was but one god and that was the people.

In 1793, they held a Festival of Reason and took over the Cathedral of Notre Dame, dismantling the altar and erecting their own altar to reason. They had girls prancing around in white dresses and one of the organizer’s wives, Sophie, was proclaimed the Goddess of Reason. Bystander Thomas Carlisle noted, “She made one of the best Goddesses of Reason; though her teeth were a little defective.”

In direct response to the Cult of Reason, a quasi-religious group was formed by Maximilien Robespierre who has been called the “first totalitarian monster.” This group called themselves The Cult of the Supreme Being and waged war not only against the atheists but also against the Roman Catholic Church.

Robespierre was put in charge of the Public Safety Committee and instituted “The Reign of Terror,” as it has become known, which sent thousands to the guillotine in executions without trial. On 5 February 1794 Robespierre proclaimed, “Terror is nothing else than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible.”

During the French Revolution, 50,000 people lost their heads; according to some estimates the Roman Catholic priesthood was the largest group of victims; an estimated 3,000 had their necks placed on the executioner’s block. The leaders of the Cult of Reason were beheaded on March 24, 1794 and the Cult was promptly disbanded.

Robespierre was himself soon a victim of the Revolution and on July 28, 1794 his neck was placed under the blade of the guillotine along with his brother and 15 of his closest followers.

Meanwhile back in Paris 2019, French billionaire François-Henri Pinault announced plans to pledge €100 million towards renovation and called for a joint effort to fund repairs. Soon after, another billionaire Bernard Arnault and his family pledged another €200 million for the restoration of "this extraordinary cathedral, which was a symbol of France, of its heritage and of French unity"

Neither of the billionaires offered a dime to quell the 20 weeks of yellow vest protests nor have they ever stepped forward to ease the widening wealth inequality that plagues Paris where homelessness has increased significantly in the last few years.

It seems much more likely that the cathedral is symbolic of the political power base of religious and secular elites who don't give a hoot about either "heritage" or "French unity." Vive la France et viva le revolucion, mes amis! Fraternity, Equality and Liberty might take more than an old church burning to become a reality.