Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution itself. There has been much scholarly debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated. The French Revolution initially began with attacks on church corruption and the wealth of the higher clergy, an action with which even many Christians could identify, since the Roman Catholic church held a dominant role in pre-revolutionary France. During a two-year period known as the Reign of Terror, the episodes of anti-clericalism grew more violent than any in modern European history. The new revolutionary authorities suppressed the church; abolished the Catholic monarchy; nationalized church property; exiled 30,000 priests and killed hundreds more. In October 1793 the
The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror principled basis to guide our decisions on future actions. Purdy goes on to highlight what he sees as problems with Ignatieff's five tests for coercive measures, in that some of the individual tests are too indeterminate, and that he provides no detail as to how each of competing considerations expressed in the tests is to be weighed against each other. The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror is a lecture and book written by Michael Ignatieff as part of the Gifford Lectures. In it, Ignatieff considers the