The theory that the state should be indifferent to religion was remote from Revolutionary ideas, and in any case is perhaps not expedient in a country predominantly Catholic. Over against the hierarchy of Rome the Revolutionary Government would set up its own church to bring spiritual unity to Frenchmen, a church in which even Catholics might participate since the being it worshiped was divine, and in which the more advanced patriots who needed no superstitions might also find an outlet for their fervors.
