Laicite | french

French Culture: Laïcité

France is an averagely religious country with a fiercely non-religious government. The desire to kick the Roman Catholic church out of power came to a head during the French Revolution. But contrary to popular belief, that separation was brief. In 1801, Napoleon restored the church to power, making all priests official government employees. For the entire 19th century France continued to be guided by Rome. With the emergence of workers’ rights, however, the church – its power threatened for a second time – attempted to repress these ideals. There was a long, bitter, and at times bloody battle. The result was the famous

law of 1905, which permanently separated church and state. Church property

was confiscated, the priests lost their state income and many thousands of

monks and nuns were forced out of their monasteries. This idea of complete

separation of church and state is known as laïcité and it is one of the

cornerstones of French thought.

This 1905 law separates; it does not discriminate. Indeed it stresses freedom

of thought. Its purpose is to reinforce one of the three pillars of republicanism:

égalité, or equality. The ideal of equality lies behind the French policy towards

immigrants – welcomed as equals, but only as long as they become like the

French, adopting French language, culture and values. Republicanism is not

merely the opposite of the take it or leave it attitude many Americans and

British hold. If you have a problem with republicanism, you have a problem

with being French. Laïcité is an absolute, an all or nothing type of idea.

So in French classrooms, there is no discussion or reference to any religion at all. On French coins, there can be no “In God we trust” phrase. In French courts, you cannot swear on a Bible. Your religious beliefs are only considered acceptable if they are being expressed at your own home or in a place of worship. Even wearing “religious insignias” is considered forbidden in many public areas (including classrooms) as it could be seen as attempting to promote your religious beliefs or, worse, convert others to them. This is more than pure secularism – it is almost not even translatable as such, though most dictionaries try to equate the two ideas. Laïcité is a kind of almost aggressive anti-clergy stance (or, at least, anti-religion-in-public). Many French feel that you must choose one identity or the other to be more important to you – are you French or are you Christian/Muslim/Jewish/another religion? This has provoked a large number of debates, arguments, and protests over the years – what would you say if you were forced to choose which one was most important to you: your religion and your nationality?