On Jul 7, 2013, at 9:01 PM, JOANNA A. wrote:
> Love the Robespierre quote. Let me translate it for those who don't
> speak French.
>
> Atheism is immoral and aristocratic: the idea of a supreme being and
> of the immortality of the soul is a continual call for justice: it
> is therefore "social and republican" (not sure how to translate
> this, Michael?)
It is important to note that this was the critical moment in Robespierre's counterrevolutionary turn against the "dechristianizers", the most advanced forces of the revolution. It was his preparation for the execution of both Hébèrt and Danton and their respective followers as well as such Enlightenment paragons as Lavoisier, Condorcet, and Olympe de Gouges (see Daniel Guérin, "Bourgeois et Bras Nus, La Lutte de Classes Sous la Première République).
Shane Mage "Thunderbolt steers all things." Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr. 64