Why did the Cult of Reason never go anywhere?

Answer 1

The reaction from the middle classes via the Directoire and Napoleon.

"The Cult of Reason was intended to complement, in the religious sphere, the radical opposition of the enragés to Robespierre's political project. In particular, Chaumette and Hébert objected to Robespierre's emphasis on the Supreme Being as a back-handed return to theism, and instead advocated the worship of Reason, personified as a goddess. The Cult of Reason enjoyed a certain support among the sans-culottes before the persecution of the Hébertistes drove it underground. Both cults were the outcome of the "de-Christianization" of French society during the Revolution, and suffered during the Thermidorian Reaction and Napoleon Bonaparte's rapprochement with Roman Catholicism."

"Cult of Reason" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_reason

"The anti-Christian campaign of the autumn of 1793, which sought to destroy Roman Catholic institutions in France, was also largely inspired by Hébert."

"Once the Committee of Public Safety, the Convention's executive body, had consolidated its power by early 1794, however, it came to regard Hébert and his extreme left-wing followers as dangerous. The Jacobins' right wing, under Georges Danton, attacked the extremism of the Hébertists, and the Committee's chief spokesman, Maximilien Robespierre, joined battle with both factions. While a food shortage was stimulating popular discontent, Hébert on March 4, 1794, persuaded the Cordeliers Club to call for a popular uprising. The sansculottes did not respond, however, and on March 14 the Committee of Public Safety had Hébert arrested. He and 17 of his followers were guillotined 10 days later. His execution cost the government the support of the sansculottes and contributed to the collapse of the Jacobin dictatorship in July 1794."

"Hébert, Jacques-René" : Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000