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What happened during the Festival of the Supreme Being in June 1794?
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Maximilien Robespierre
One of the leading figures of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre.
On June 8, 1794 (20 Prairial, year II), Maximilien Robespierre presided over the Festival of the Supreme Being in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris.1
As a Deist influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Robespierre organized this event to promote a civic religion centered on the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, explicitly rejecting the anti-Christian movements and the "masquerades" of the cult of reason that had previously emerged during the Revolution.1
While Robespierre had recently been elected president of the National Convention and remained highly popular, his prominent role in leading this festival provided his political enemies with further ammunition to use against him.1