By looking at how European society became ‘less religious’ as a result of the age of revolutions, the issue of secularisation seems to materialise. Now secularisation refers to the declining influence of religion and religious values within a given culture or society. It is essentially difficult to analyse the rate of secularisation, because this simply cannot be mathematically and systematically measured. For example, would showing the differences in church attendances truly demonstrate the degree of secularisation within England or France? Many figures are often biased and look specifically upon the attendance figures for the Church of England. Essentially then, when looking at all these different issues within this topic of study, the enormous complexities of the subject matter seems to become evident.
And so then, to first look at France where in 1789 protest against the absolute monarchy bequeathed by Louis XVI took place. It was July 14th 1789 when the Bastille was stormed and the patience of the ‘sans-culottes’ and the ‘Third Estate’ finally ended. The country was sick of Louis XVI and Marie- Antoinette, absolutism and the continual decline of the every day people into the gulf of poverty and starvation. The subsequent ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen’ demonstrated exactly this fervency for revolutionary change. Religion to France signified each and every problem intrinsic to the times, and this was because of Louis XVI’s desire to hold onto the country’s history of absolute government. In addition to this, the Church didn’t have to pay taxes, and so in a time of real economic severity, this further enhanced the view of the Catholic Church as something bad.
The rallying cry of ‘Liberte, Egalite, and Fraternite’ signified exactly what the people of France wanted and religion was simply another system in the way of freedom and expression. There were three proposed articles for the ‘Declaration of Rights’, which had been written by the clergy, and two of them were rejected. In fact it was the wish of the ‘Legislative Assembly’ that Catholicism should cease to be the religion of the state, therefore paving a way for true liberty of worship to be established. France wanted the church to be subject to the state. On the 13th February 1790 the Assembly decreed that religious orders and congregations should be suppressed, and that no others should be established in the future.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity...(Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, 1859).
On May 29th 1790, the ‘Civil Constitution of the Clergy’ was put together by the Legislative Assembly. This was designed to put to rest the occasional disturbances within France and Europe as a whole in response to the initial ‘Declaration of Rights’. Infact, here below is an extract from the ‘Constitution’ stating quite clearly and profoundly the changes to take place. These changes were indeed passed on July 12th, 1790.
‘Canonries and priories are to be abolished. There should no longer be any sacerdotal posts especially devoted to fulfilling the conditions of Mass foundations. All appeals to Rome are forbidden.’- (J. Mcmanners, p.37)
The French Revolution and the breakdown of Divine Providence meant a breakdown in the superiority and stability of religion. Subsequently, if God wasn’t effective or important within leadership and rule of the country, then how important was He within society in general. Here we can see a turn in change of ideals and essentially hallmarks of what conjugates a revolution, in terms of public thought and hegemonic values.
Following on from this stage and a man by the name of Napoleon arrives, whose military conquests and meteoric rise to become ‘Empereur des Francais’ would soon threaten the stability of Europe. A revolutionary in every sense of the word, he was quick to be respected and admired across France as someone who was ‘of the people’, who wanted to abolish feudalism forever and move France onto greater things.
In 1801, he agreed a religious settlement (‘Concordat’) with the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church was recognised as the ‘religion of the great majority of the population’, the clergy were to be paid as state officials and purchasers of former Church lands were guaranteed possession. However, he was careful not to be seen as restoring Catholicism in its fullest sense and so was quick to issue this statement with the agreement of 1801:
‘The people must have a religion and that religion must be in the hands of the government’- (Napoleon, 1801)
When he was made King of France on December 2nd 1804, he expressed that he wished to ‘impress the seal of religion itself upon the opening of his reign’ and to ‘restore in France the ancient forms and recall those institutions which divinity itself seems to have inspired.’ The Notre-Dame Cathedral was saved from demolition and redecorated for this special coronation of Napoleon I.
‘If I were governing Jews I would restore the Temple of Solomon’ - (Napoleon, 1804)
The Industrial Revolution of England drew its impetus from the slogan that ‘knowledge is power’, from the ideal that that ‘nature is, in principle, completely knowable and controllable and the universe as something that should be explored, subdued, dominated and exploited.’ (W.R. Ward, p. 179).
The continual debate between science and religion, initially heightened by the’ Enlightenment’ demonstrated the fact that industrial revolution was constant to scientific development and ideals/exploration. In an environment where colonialism was becoming a huge part of trade and commerce, and the ‘consumer revolution’ was developing, people began to conceive that if science and exploration was creating this new revolutionary period, then of what bearing did religion now play in this quickly changing society.
Now with the industrial revolution, it was less visibly concerned with the nature of religion than the French Revolution had been. It was more involved with the subtle break up of religious communities. And so, population was also an important variable concerning the influence it had upon the make-up of built areas. By 1850, over half of the population of England were ‘urban dwellers’. The relocation of industry within the Midland, the North, London etc, made population growth within urban areas very desirable, because people needed jobs and had to simultaneously change with the movement of industry. There were also great regional disparities in population throughout the country.
There had been a great shift from more cottage based industries within little villages, where the church often stood as the unifying feature, to larger, more greater populous areas where undoubtedly the communal spirit and religious attendance would somewhat diminish. Although industrialisation comes primarily as a result of natural and/or financial resources, some historians have looked at the existence of an entrepreneurial working class, which believed strongly in good, hard labour. This class is often inextricably linked with the Protestant work ethic and moreover the actual status of dissenting protestant sects. ‘When the restoration of the monarchy took place, the dissenters often were barred or discouraged from various public offices as membership of the Anglican Church became once more an important advantage within society.’
In conclusion then, French Catholicism was not destroyed in the end by the Revolution of 1789 onwards. Napoleon did after all try and legitimise his power by using Catholicism at his coronation. The historian, Van Kley states that ‘even in its dechristianising phase, revolutionary political culture was considerably more indebted to varieties of French Catholicism than it realised.
However, another train of thought sees the French Revolution as standing for ‘a religion of man, announced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau as a civil religion.’ (R. Kennedy, 1989, 156-157)
Other branches of religion were also beginning to show within Europe, for example the Mormon Church was established in the early 1800’s. Also, other denominations proceeded out from the Catholic Church, as more and more people (greater within England than France) began to try and unify or reinvigorate the Church.
The French Revolution seemed to secularise and so therefore become less religious over a short period of time, however by the beginning of Napoleon’s reign as leader of France, Catholicism was virtually back into its previous, pre-revolutionary position. Infact, a French general was noted for stating the following quote at the coronation of Napoleon I.
‘What a shame that the 300,000 Frenchmen who dies to overthrow one throne are unable to enjoy the superb fruit of their labours’
Concerning the Industrial Revolution within England, it was palpable that there was a move towards secularisation. The Victorian Age was still very religious, although not to the same degree as it had been. It could be argued that the legacy of the Industrial revolution went on to affect the secularisation of England even more over the long term, as once industries were implemented within society, the decline of religion began to take greater effect.
Elliott Abrams discusses the likelihood of the Industrial Revolution in secularising the nation:
‘Surely religion arises, in part, because of the desire of Homo sapiens for supernatural assistance in matters beyond their control. The industrial and scientific revolutions, by increasing human power and control over nature, have helped to weaken the psychological hold of religion. If one is ill, one may still pray or wear an amulet, but one also often has good grounds to hope for successful scientific medical treatment. - (Elliott Abrams, 1996, pps.127-128)
We can specify that there was a gradual secularisation within European Society. This however was in different parts and was certainly not the central trend to Europe as a whole. For example, even though England was becoming vastly secular, Italy was still very religious around this time period with the church continually dominating every-day life and culture.
As with many historical issues there were no set trends to the differences in secularisation across European society, brought about by the typically complicated, political and industrial diversification within late 18th and 19th century European society.
Sources Cited:
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B. Wilson, ‘Religion in Secular Society’, Penguin, Aylesbury, 1969
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W. R. Ward, ‘Religion and Society in England 1790-1850’, Batsford, London, 1973
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J. Mcmanners, ‘The French Revolution and the Church’, Greenwood Press, 1969
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N. Hampson, ‘A Social History of the French Revolution’, Routledge, 1963
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W. Church, ‘The Influence of the Enlightenment on the French Revolution’, Heath and Company, 1964
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S.King and G. Timmins, ‘Making Sense of the Industrial Revolution’,
Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2001
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P. O’Brien and R. Quinault, ‘The Industrial Revolution and British Society’,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993
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D. Van. Kley, ‘The Religious Origins of the French Revolution’, Yale
University Press, New Haven, 1996
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E. Abrams, ‘Faith or fear?’, The Free Press, New York, 1997
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P. Halsall, , created in 1997
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C. Dickens, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, Penguin Classics, London, 1996
(2,200 words in total)
Ca Ira, , site created by Paul Halsall, 1998.
J. Mcmanners, ‘The French Revolution and the Church’, Greenwood Press, 1969
S. King, ‘Making sense of the Industrial Revolution’, Manchester, 2001, chapter 10
P. O’Brien and R. Quinault, ‘The Industrial Revolution and British Society’, Cambridge, 1996, p 78
D. V. Kley, ‘The Religious origins of the French Revolution’, 1996, p 234
Quote from Antoine-Guillaume Maurilhac Delmas, 1804, website unknown