the clergy plan on avenging themselves upon him and making his cadaver suffer every religious snub unless he satisfies the externals [by recognizing the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Christian God].”30 The pious Toinette was torn about what to do about this. While she “would have given her life for [Diderot] to be a believer,” she also wanted to prevent her husband from being coerced into accepting Christ in order to ensure himself a decent burial.
