The article analyzes the ideas of the French sociological and anthropological tradition of researching the sacral religious phenomenon. The sociology of the sacral originates in the studies of the French sociological school (E. Durkheim, M. Moss, H. Hubert), continues in the works of representatives of the College of Sociology (G. Bataille, R. Caillois) and is creatively interpreted in the anthropology and philosophy of R. Girard. The socio-anthropological theory of R. Girard is aimed at explaining the origin of religion and the fundamental religious experience of the sacral, the duality of the sacral, its connection with violence and sacrifice, and also provides an original interpretation of the history of human civilization from the point of view of the connection between the sacral, sacrifice and violence. The French tradition of the sociology of the sacral has made a great contribution to the study of the spiritual contradictions of a person in the post-religious era.