Rousseau's "Social Contract", directly criticizes and undermines the status quo of the old regime. Rousseau criticized the flaws in the existing regime, analyzing and undermining almost all aspects of the old regime, including the role of the monarchy and the aristocracy, the under appreciated role of the general population and the role of the church and religion as a whole and its position in society.

In "The Social Contract", Rousseau explains that the human invention of government as a kind of contract between the governed and the authorities that govern them. Rousseau contests that humans are born completely self-sufficient and self-governing; whereas social human beings are dependant and constrained. The rights and liberties that social human beings get are derived ultimately from a general social agreement. He theorizes that the

The second type of religion he defines as "religion of the citizen", this being described as the religion of a single country, or a national religion. A civil religion is organized with a hierarchy and formal dogmas. This religion would be exampled by societies like ancient Rome, were the religion teaches love for your country and obedience to the state. Rousseau actually praises this type of religion under the premise that if religions sole purpose was to strengthen the state it would be a perfect fit. He argues, however, that any church that is separate from the state provides the risk of decrees of religion not matching those of the state, encouraging disobedience. He also says of this type of religion, it is based on error and lies, it deceives men, and makes them credulous and superstitious."(P182)

Rousseau concludes his social contract with the chapter on religion. Contrary to his fellow enlightenment thinkers who, much impressed, by the novel ideas of natural science, mounted an offensive against Christianity, in particular Catholicism, Rousseau welcomed the idea of religion in society. Although Rousseau agued the need for religion, he did not support the religion of the day. Having rejected both reason and revelation, he proclaimed, "The essential worship is that of the heart. God does not reject its homage, if it is sincere, in whatever form it is offered to him." The religion defended by Rousseau was a drastically subjective one, based on internal sentiment, a belief rooted in being faithful to ones feelings. Many historians have in fact argued that Rousseau's dedication to the idea of the general will indicates that his state is as a form of secularized Christianity.

In Rousseau's chapter on religion, he distinguishes four types of religion, each of which he finds deserving of complaints. The first type of religion that Rousseau identified was the "religion of man" which was "without temples, alters or rites.... limited to the purely internal cult of the supreme God and to the eternal duty of morality.... is the pure and simple religion of the gospel, the true theism, and what can be called natural and divine law. (Social Contract, book IV, chapter 8.) The religion of the man is informal and unorganized, centered on morality and the worship of god. He describes this religion of man as Christianity. He then criticizes it, saying that true Christianity of this sort would require every citizen to be an equally good Christian for peace and harmony to be maintained. He furthers this argument by adding that it would be very unlikely for every man to be concerned with heavenly things, predicting that "a single ambitious man, a single hypocrite.... He would quite undoubtedly gain an upper on his pious compatriots" (Social Contract, chapter 8). Rousseau holds that this type of religion is bad for the state , as Christianity is other worldly, and as such takes away from citizens love for the state, as it takes away from their love of life on earth, "Christianity is a whol

Some common words found in the essay are:
Roman Catholics, Social Contract, Contract Rousseau, Catholic Church, Christianity Rousseau, Catholicism Rousseau, Church Rousseau, Europe Rousseau, social contract, Christianity Catholicism, civil religion, Pope Rousseau, type religion, dogmas religion, chapter 8, contract chapter, catholic church, status quo regime, regime french, social human, french regime, undermines status quo, chapter 8 religion, dogmas civil religion, civil religion motivates,
Approximate Word count = 2023
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)