Originally Posted by William_the_Bloody

Well as a former student of history there are certain repeating trends one often encounters, but I may have made an error to some degree in regards to the paganism.

French Revolution:

The peak of the French Revolution was led by Maximilien de Robespierre, a Jacobian, who is believed to have laid down the totalitarian blueprint for the twentieth century, via many historic scholars.

The Jacobians were a hard left political sect that would seize power during the French Revolution, and end up instituting the reign of terror through mass purges that resulted in tens of thousands meeting their death via the guillotine.

Many of its followers were secularists or deists, who like the Bolsheviks, believed that man could create a secular paradise on earth. As a result, they tried to de Christianize France by stripping the Catholic church of its power and replacing it with a state religion known as "the cult of the supreme being"

Where I am in error, was in my recollection of believing that the Cult of the Supreme Being was religion steeped primarily in nature worship when in fact it was primarily deist. That being said, there were pagan elements to it, including a festival of the supreme being, designed to worship the goddess of reason, which had many of the elements of nature worship to it.

Christian interpretation of dark forces in the French Revolution:

For many Christian scholars, The French Revolution is seen as the initial warning of the demonic forces that are unleashed when humanity attempts to turn away from god, by attempting to become a gods themselves, by setting up their own utopia. (Ie; French Revolution, Soviet Union, Nazism ect)

Maximilien de Robespierre, though well intentioned, was unaware of the demonic forces he was unleashing when he went on a campaign to expunge Christianity from France in order to create his secular republic.

As consequence, the French Revolution spun out of his control, as paranoia ran wild with mass purges and executions that consumed the lives of the innocents. (Much like the Soviet Union to follow)

Ironically, Maximilien de Robespierre's height of power was when he arranged the paganistic festival of Supreme Being, whereby he was arrested shortly thereafter and sent to the guillotine himself.

Thus one could theorize he had served Satan's purpose of providing the opening for the dark forces that would lead to the horrors of the twentieth century, with the rise of the militant atheism & paganism that would seek to dispose of Christianity in Europe.

Conservative England on the other hand, was sparred these horrors because it was a society that was still steeped in Christiandom, hence the evolution of it's liberty & future democracy under the growing British Empire.

My Beliefs on the French Revolution

I of course don't believe in the "dark forces" theory because it's a philosophical theory that is lacking in scientific evidence to back it up.

Still, I do find the theory fascinating and it sometimes does make me pause to think about it and go hmmmmm.

Apologies for the long read, I just love this stuff and read everything from the far left to right and in between. My favorite scholar of all time was actually a militant atheist, cheers.