Irreligion in France

Irreligion in France has a long history and a large demographic constitution, with the advancement of atheism and the deprecation of theistic religion dating back as far as the French Revolution.

Scholar Étienne Dolet was strangled and burnt in 1546 on a charge of atheism; in 1766, the French nobleman François-Jean de la Barre, was tortured, beheaded, and his body burned for alleged vandalism of a crucifix, a case that became celebrated because Voltaire tried unsuccessfully to have the sentence reversed.

The French Revolution marked a turning point for the ascendancy of atheism to a preeminent position as a cognitive and cultural stance against papal supremacy and the Holy Roman Empire across Europe and throughout the world.

Following the wars, atheists and secular humanists became increasingly involved in defining and interpreting the existence of humanity and the individual, among them being existentialist writer and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

The 21st century, beginning with the advent of the American-led War on Terror, has enlivened the debate over the issue of religious liberty, expression and atheistic rationalism in France[citation needed].

Columbarium of Pere-Lachaise Cemetery , on right: " No being on Earth has any relation to a deity in the depths of infinity ".
Monument to the Chevalier de La Barre, Paris, 18th arrondissement at Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre, circa 1906