Some do not hesitate to describe Fourier as a religious, and sometimes Christian, thinker. But beyond the encroaching religious rhetoric, it appears that providentialism is only an axiom which logic renders necessary for the Theory of passionate attraction, the latter undermining the established religion. As to the Harmonian religion, it boils down to the exaltation of a new social order. For Fourier, religion is merely a benevolent illusion.