Anticlerical Laws (French Revolution)

In the eighteenth century, 95% of the approximately 27 million people in France belonged to the Roman Catholic Church , and most of the rest of the faithful were Huguenot Protestants; also in the country there were about 40 thousand Jews and a microscopic Muslim community. In royal France, the clergy was institutionalized as the country's first estate. The church was the largest landowner in the country, and received large incomes from collecting church tithes. Since the church was the one that registered births, deaths and marriages, and was the only institution that provided primary and secondary education, as well as hospitals, it had a huge impact on the entire population.

In August 1789, the state abolished the right of the church to collect taxes, after which the central question arose of the policy of the new revolutionary government - the question of church property. It was announced that all church property in France belonged to the people, and the confiscated property was sold at public auctions.

In July 1790, the National Constituent Assembly adopted a new law - "The civil structure of the clergy ." The clergy was removed from the power of the Pope and became an instrument of the state. Pope Pius VI spent eight months investigating this matter, and on April 13, 1791, rejected the “Civic Organization of the Clergy”, which led to a split among French priests. Only five percent of the clergy took the oath in accordance with the new law, while others remained unsworn .

In September 1792, the Legislative Assembly legalized divorce , not recognized by Catholic doctrine. At the same time, the state took away registration of births, deaths and marriages from the church.

There was a widespread belief in society that the church was a counter-revolutionary force, so when the September killings began, massacres of many detained clergymen took place.

In 1793, the Legislative Assembly, which replaced the National Convention , as well as councils of departments continued to adopt anti-clerical laws, mainly aimed at confiscating church property. The Gregorian calendar was abolished by a decree of the National Convention of October 5, 1793, and the French Republican calendar was introduced.

Instead of Christianity, the Cult of the Mind began to spread actively. The ceremonies of the cult of Reason were accompanied by carnivals, parades, forcing priests to abdicate, sacking churches, destroying or insulting Christian sacred objects (icons, statues, crosses, etc.). In addition, ceremonies were held to honor the "martyrs of the Revolution." The cult reached its greatest development in Paris during the "Festival of Freedom" ( Fr. Fête de la Liberté ) in Notre Dame de Paris on November 10 (20 Brumaire), 1793. On November 24, 1793, the commune of Paris issued a decree banning Catholic worship and the closure of all churches.

On December 6-7, 1793, the Convention officially condemned measures of violence "contrary to freedom of worship." In March 1794, the cult of the Mind was banned, and the Cult of the Supreme Being began to take root. On June 8, 1794, a public celebration of the Supreme Being was organized in Paris, where Robespierre delivered a speech. After the Ninth Thermidor, the cult of the Supreme Being, associated with the dictatorship of Robespierre, quickly waned.

Since 1795, anti-clericalism declined. The law of February 21, 1795 permitted public worship (albeit with severe restrictions - bell ringing, religious processions and the demonstration of the cross were still prohibited).

About twenty thousand clergymen, who took the oath in accordance with the new legislation, were forced to renounce the dignity, and six to nine thousand agreed (or were forced) to marry. By the end of the decade, about thirty thousand clergymen were forced to leave France.

The anti-clerical laws of the period of the French Revolution had a significant impact on French life: many of those who abandoned the traditional religion during this period never returned to it.