What religious beliefs did Jean-Jacques Rousseau express in The Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar?

In The Profession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar, which appears within his work Emile; or, On Education, Jean-Jacques Rousseau outlines a personal, simplified form of Christianity that rejects both revelation and traditional church dogmas.1

Rousseau’s religious views, which he considered his own, are characterized by the following core beliefs:

• Existence of God and the Soul: He maintained an unwavering belief in the existence of God and the immortality of the soul.1
• Nature as a Temple: He felt a profound emotional drive to worship God, experiencing the divine presence most intensely in nature, particularly in landscapes untouched by human influence.1
• The Primacy of Conscience: He emphasized conscience as the "divine voice of the soul in man." He prioritized this internal moral guide over both rationalistic ethical systems and the authority of biblical texts.1

This minimal, conscience-based creed placed Rousseau in opposition to both the orthodox religious establishment and the atheistic philosophes of his time.1