The Secret Life of Frédéric Bastiat
It is claimed by some that Frédéric Bastiat was a devout Christian, a dubious claim at best. I quote Alejandro Chaufen: “In the preface of Providence and Liberty, a short book devoted to Bastiat’s Christian views and life, three champions and scholars of the free society, Leonard Liggio, Jacques Garello and Samuel Gregg, wrote that “Bastiat had absorbed into his soul the essence of the message of Jesus Christ: that God is a Creator who so loved the world that He gave us His Only Son.”
This is really imposing a personal religious agenda on Bastiat and there is a reason the book is short—lack of evidence. In Bastiat’s works one will find references to God in general, but mostly in deistic terms. What you will not find is anything more than a cursory or passing reference to Jesus. For someone “absorbed into his soul the essence of the message of Jesus Christ” Bastiat was rather silent about the man.
Bastiat was raised Catholic, as were most Frenchmen of the day, but he was not particularly interested in religious practice. Modern conservatives and Christians have tried to recruit him to their cause posthumously. Bastiat’s letters have a few references to the issue, but not in ways substantiating the above claim.
The introduction to a collection of letters by Bastiat, says:
“The issues of mortality and religion that appear in many of the letters offer yet another dimension to Bastiat’s complex personality. Given the fact that he lost both parents at an early age to tuberculosis, it is not surprising that Bastiat was aware of his own mortality. He was afraid of cholera and other diseases, he suffered a painful and debilitating illness, and he knew that this illness would likely end his life far too early. The letters in which these thoughts and feelings are apparent are very touching. Bastiat did not seem to take any solace from religion, however. His letters contain scattered remarks about religion, some fairly critical, especially of its formalism and emptiness.”
Bastiat said the topic of “religion fills me with hesitation and uncertainty.” “How can I not see the dogmas of our Catholicism as mythology? And in spite of it all, this mythology is so beautiful, so consoling, so sublime that error is almost preferable to truth.” Almost preferable to truth means: Close, but no cigar. And, saying it is almost preferable to truth, certainly means he did not think it truth in and of itself.
He wrote of a belief in a deity and the immortality of the soul. That is hardly enough to justify the claim “he absorbed into his soul the essence of the message of Jesus Christ.”
Bastiat wrote: “if paganism is the mythology of the imagination, Catholicism is the mythology of sentiment. What could be more likely to interest a sensitive heart than the life of Jesus, the morality of the Gospels, and meditation on Mary?”
He wrote: “One thing that occupies me more seriously is philosophy and religion. My soul is full of uncertainty and I cannot bear this state. My intellect rejects faith while my heart hankers after it.” His discomfort was that intellectually he rejected faith, even though emotionally he wouldn’t mind having it. “My intellect rejects faith,” is not the statement of a devout Christian.
One has to wonder whether a devout Catholic would write: “How can I not see the dogmas of our Catholicism as mythology?” In 1820 he told one friend, “I have a feeling that if I had one spark of faith in my heart, it would shortly become a flame.” But, his wording implies he did not have it.
The Catholic Encyclopedia did not see Bastiat as a devout Catholic at all. They write Bastiat “was fitted to understand and defend Catholic truth; but the prejudices in the midst of which he lived kept him aloof from the Faith until the very eve of his death.”
They do claim he converted at the very last minute and “his eyes were opened to the light of Catholicism.” Their source is quoting “Proudhon, his enemy” who claimed at the last second Bastiat cried out, “I see, I know, I believe; I am a Christian.” It seems highly unlikely Proudhon, an opponent of Bastiat, is a reliable source as to the last minutes of the great liberal’s life. Second, I’ve not yet found a reference to Proudhon making such a claim. And, third, even if a source existed, I’d like to see some other form of verification other than from a man who was debating Bastiat, by letter, at the end of his life and would see this as a means of discrediting his opponent. In addition Proudhon was not present when Bastiat died and has no first hand information whatsoever.
Given how Bastiat’s published works only refer to God in the most general sense, and one that was common among Enlightenment thinkers — including deists and other non-Christians — where do we find the evidence that Bastiat “absorbed into his soul the essence of the message of Jesus Christ?” For one so absorbed by Jesus his published letters only make mention of him once.
Bastiat’s letters, as their editor says, “contain scattered remarks about religion, some fairly critical,” but not much else. As the Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges Bastiat’s life was “aloof from the Faith.” All we have is an alleged last second, unverified death-bed conversion. When you are used to operating on faith you are used to operating with little to no evidence — in fact, you can hold a belief completely contrary to all existing evidence and feel good about it.
Bastiat was no atheist. He was not an agnostic. He did believe there was a deity and humans have souls which survive death. I would find it legitimate to call him a Deist, in the loose sense of the word. But, one thing it is not legitimate to call him “is a devout Catholic.” Nor is is fair to claim Bastiat “absorbed into his soul the essence of the message of Jesus Christ: that God is a Creator who so loved the world that He gave us His Only Son.”
There is another possible reason why Bastiat generally kept his distance from the Church—the possibility he was gay. While Bastiat did marry in a church, it was a rather odd affair. He and his wife married, separated and spent no time together.
The woman, Marie Hiard, was wealthy and Bastiat needed the funds at the time for the family property. They married and then basically never saw one another after that, she pretty much disappears from his life. Some indicate Marie was pregnant and may have given birth to a son. Bastiat inherited an estate in financial difficulty, he needed cash and Marie needed a husband, even if they never lived together. Bastiat’s financial problems were solved and Marie’s reputation was saved. If she did have a child Bastiat never took an interest in the infant according to his letters implying the child was not his.
A collection of Bastiat’s correspondence says: “Bastiat never mentions his wife in his long and detailed correspondence. It appears as if his marriage to her was one strictly of convenience, to finance his estate. …After their marriage, he apparently had no intimate life with her; and, although he took care of her financially, he left her in the custody of his Aunt Justine.” The editor says his relationship with his wife was “essentially nonexistent.”
When Bastiat was at home in Mugron he spent every day with Félix Coudroy, and when he was away he wrote Coudroy regularly, repeatedly as “my dear Félix.” The Catholic Encyclopedia described Coudroy as Bastiat’s “able, dearly loved and lifelong friend.” His entire adult life revolved around Felix (in person when possible, by letter when not). Coudroy and Bastiat shared the same interests and would read the same books and discuss them for hours on end. At first Coudroy considered himself a socialist but his conversations with Bastiat convinced him otherwise.
Not much seems known about Coudroy. Correspondence from Bastiat to him asks him to give Frédéric’s regards to his sister. Presumably had Félix himself been married Bastiat would send his regards to his friend’s wife. The implication of the letter is Félix lived with his sister, not with a wife. This was in 1850 when both men were 49 years old, and the year Bastiat died of tuberculosis. Numerous previous letters also mention Coudroy’s sister, though not by name, while none mention a wife.
Bastiat only vaguely references the feeling of love for another in a letter he wrote Coudroy explaining his move to Paris, “I must quit Mugron. I must separate myself from those I love.” Could that be a reference to Coudroy himself? Certainly, if the volume of letters he sent mean anything Coudroy was very important to him. The letters he sent Coudroy span from 1824 to shortly before Bastiat’s death in 1850.
There is reason to think Bastiat may have been gay but not definitive proof. Similarly there is reason to conclude he was a theist but no proof he was a devout Christian of any denomination. For one as influential as he was, there is little known about Bastiat’s life and even less known about Félix Coudroy, his constant companion. His thoughts and ideas are widely known, his life, however, to a large degree remains a secret he took to his grave.
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