Dec. 9 marks the 100th anniversary of France’s adoption of legislation mandating the separation of church and state.
Like many European nations, France had a long tradition of government-established religion. Throughout much of the nation’s history, the Roman Catholic Church received official preference. Great disparity between rich and poor and a sense that the church’s clergy had lost touch with the needs of the common person sparked an anti-clerical backlash during the French Revolution. The revolutionary government disestablished the Catholic Church and adopted a provision stating, “No one may be disturbed on account of his opinions, even religious ones, as long as the manifestation of such opinions does not interfere with the established Law and Order.”
The collapse of the revolutionary government and the rise of Napoleon led to a reversal of fortune for advocates of church-state separation. Napoleon signed a concordat with Catholic officials in 1801, restoring the church’s privileged position. (Napoleon also extended state recognition to Judaism and the Lutheran and Reformed churches.)
But the spirit of the revolution continued to influence French political thought. In the late 19th Century, opposition jelled to the Catholic Church’s control of public education. Laws passed in that period secularized the schools and left the job of instilling religious education in children with the home and church.
The 1905 law was an even bigger step forward. The measure ended state endorsement and direct funding of religious groups. It was not universally popular. Pope Pius X attacked the law in a 1906 encyclical, asserting, “That the State must be separated from the Church is a thesis absolutely false, a most pernicious error.”
France’s separation is not absolute. The government pays teachers in private religious schools for every subject except religion. Two regions of the country, Alsace and parts of Lorraine, do not follow the separation principle for historical reasons and retain taxpayer support for clergy.
Still, the idea of secularism is very important to the French people. The country’s current constitution, adopted in 1958, contains a guarantee of secularism, which the French call laicite. It states, “France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. It shall respect all beliefs.”
Unlike the United States, where secularism is often a dirty word, France sees the concept as non-controversial, even desirable. Commenting on secularism in December of 2003, French President Jacques Chirac stated, “Secularism guarantees freedom of conscience. It protects the freedom to believe or not to believe. It guarantees everyone the possibility of expressing and practicing their faith, peacefully and freely, without the threat of the imposition of other convictions or beliefs….It is the neutrality of the public arena which permits the various religions to coexist harmoniously.” Chirac went on to call French secularism “non-negotiable.”
Melina Gazsi, a French journalist, recently observed, “Secularism is above all a legal framework which assures freedom of conscience and the equality of all citizens, whether believers, atheists or agnostics. Freedom of conscience is enshrined in Article 1 of the law of 9 December 1905 : ‘The Republic ensures liberty of conscience. It guarantees freedom of worship.’ Far from being a weapon against religions, on the contrary, it provides for the peaceful coexistence of different spiritual beliefs.”
Some are now arguing that France needs to relax its policy of secularism. Tax aid to mosques, they assert, might help integrate Muslim immigrants more fully into French society. Pro-separation groups oppose this move. One group, Libre Pensee, a freethought organization, exchanges publications with Americans United. Two Libre Pensee representatives visited AU a few years ago to discuss cooperation and information sharing.
On this important anniversary, we at Americans United say to the French, “Félicitations!”
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