Abstract
Laicism1 signifies the absence of any official religion in a country, but also the absence of any official state atheism. If Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Norway are not lay because they have a national religion, neither is the former Soviet Union because it favored atheism and, indeed, promoted religious persecution during certain periods of its history. What, therefore, is the place laicism grants to religion in the public sphere? Does religion share full rights of freedom of worship and expression, or does it face substantial limits? This chapter attempts to answer these questions, not in an abstract way but by taking the example of France, which is a typical lay country. As a first step, some of the historical traits of French laicism are indicated, for the present situation is not understandable once severed from its historical roots. Next, this chapter considers the present situation of religion in French lay society and the recent transformations that present new kinds of problems for laicism. In conclusion, some remarks of a more general nature are made.
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References
Laicism is the English term used in this chapter to translate laïcité, the established French term that describes the French church-state system. Laïcité connotes a strong separation of church and state that has evolved over the past two centuries since the French Revolution. At its core, it represents a commitment that the state will be secular; that is, it will be “lay” rather than confessional, while still respecting freedom of religion or belief.
Robert King Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1957).
Analogous measures were taken during the same period in other countries.
Jacques Le Goff and René Rémond, eds., Histoire de la France religieuse, tome 3: Du Roi très chrétien à la laïcité républicaine, XVIIIe - XIXe siècle ( Paris: Seuil, 2001 ), 150.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du contrat social, ed. B. de Jouvenel (Geneva: C. Bourquin, 1947 ), 369.
Robert King Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1957 ). Analogous measures were taken during the same period in other countries.
Jacques Le Goff and René Rémond, eds., Histoire de la France religieuse, tome 3: Du Roi très chrétien à la laïcité républicaine, XVIIIe - XIXe siècle ( Paris: Seuil, 2001 ), 150.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du contrat social, ed. B. de Jouvenel (Geneva: C. Bourquin, 1947 ), 369.
On this problem, see Gilman Marston Ostrander, The Rights of Man in America, 1606–1861, 2d. ed. (Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1969); and Antoine de Baecque, Wolfgang Schmale, and Michel Vovelle, Van I des droits de Vhomme ( Paris: Presse du CNRS, 1988 ).
Jean Baubérot, “Two Thresholds of Laicization,” in Secularism and Its Critics, ed. Rajeev Bhargava (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999), 94–136; Baubérot, Vers un nouveau pacte laïque? ( Paris: Seuil, 1990 ), 33 — 48.
Claude Nicolet, Vidée républicaine en France ( Paris: Gallimard, 1982 ), 310.
J. M. Gaillard, Jules Ferry ( Paris: Fayard, 1989 ), 437.
Baubérot, “Two Thresholds,” 197; Baubérot, Histoire de la laïcité française ( Paris: PUF, 2000 ), 93.
Baubérot, La morale laïque contre l’ordre moral ( Paris: Seuil, 1997 ), 117–278.
Maurice Larkin, Church and State after the Dreyfus Affair: The Separation Issue in France ( London: Macmillan, 1974 ), 102–206.
Maurice Larkin, Religion, Politics, and Preferment in France since 1890: La Belle Epoque and Its Legacy ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995 ), 5–58.
Concerning these projects and their refutation, see Baubérot,Pacte laïque> 49–80.
Jean-Marie Mayeur, La séparation des Eglises et de VEtat ( Paris: Editions Ouvrières, 1991 ), 65a.
Mayeur, “Les catholiques libéraux devant la loi de séperation,” in Religion et politique. Les deux guerres mondiales. Histoire de Lyon et du Sud-Est. Mélanges offerts à M. le doyen André Latreille ( Lyon: Audin, 1972 ), 207–24.
Law of 2 January 1907 concernant Vexercice public des cultes C. Adm., Dalloz (1998) 542.
Mayeur, La séparation des Eglises et de l’Etat, 175.
Baubérot, Laïcité française 85–92.
Law No. 59–1557 of 31 December 1959 sur les rapports entre l’Etat et les établissements d’enseignement privés, C. ADM ., Dalloz (1998) 685.
Law of 9 December 1905 concernant la separation des Eglises et de l’Etat, C. Adm., Dalloz (1998) 536.
In order to guarantee the “free exercise of religion,” there can be a quasi-official religious presence in public life. Today in France, this is particularly true where military chaplains have an official status in the army.
Since 1987 it has been possible to deduct, within certain limits of its taxable revenue, gifts to churches. This constitutes a type of indirect subsidy.
Departments and communes are units of administrative division in France. There are six levels of French administrative division, with units at each level normally divided into several units of the next lower level. The ninety-six departments comprise the third level, below the Republic and the regions. The more than 36,000 communes, including cities and towns, comprise the sixth level.
The formulation of article 4 of the 1905 law derives from legislation of the United States and from British legislation affecting the Free Church of Scotiand. This produces an interesting paradox: French laicism in this case was able to establish itself in a relatively placatory manner by borrowing from Anglo- Saxon law.
In 1999 the French Parliament passed a law creating formal recognition for gay partnerships. Known by its French acronym PACS (pacte civil de solidarité), the law does not provide all the benefits of marriage, but does allow registered couples, after a three-year waiting period, to file joint tax returns and to receive various government financial benefits (Law No. 99–944,15 November 1999, J.O. 16. 11. 1999, S. 16959 ).
Direct provocation to resist the execution of laws“ is forbidden (article 36), which is nothing out of the ordinary in democratic society. For example, it is possible to say in a sermon that abortion is an ”abomination“ and that those who take part in it ”are excluded from salvation“ and even that ”the law should be changed.“ However, the sermon cannot incite to aggression against those caretakers who perform abortions, nor can it incite to cause damage to clinics or hospitals. Of course, in reality, the limits can be difficult to determine, but the law defines it as ”direct provocation.“ All things considered, for religion, as for any belief, legal prosecution for beliefs is a borderline case. See P. Rolland, ”Du délit d’opinion dans la démocratie française,“ in Pouvoir et liberté: Études offertes à Jacques Mourgeon (Brussels: Bruylant, 1998), 645–70.
This situation punishes Islam in particular. Nonetheless, several means are currently available for using public funds in the construction of mosques.
It was only in 1945 that the bishops’ assembly affirmed that laicism, as a “sovereign autonomy of the State,” appeared acceptable.
H. Riffaut, Les valeurs des français {Paris: PUF, 1994 ).
The differentials set up as follows: Third World: 4%; racism: 10%; disarmament: 7%; euthanasia: 10%; environment: 22%; unemployment: 9%; abortion: 18%; extra-marital relations: 14%; homosexuality: 17%; government policy: 19%. The only real counterexample is the environment. Among the possible explanations for this are a belated awareness on the part of the French concerning the importance of this problem and a stronger politicization of this problem in France (where there is a notable ecological political party) than in Britain.
It is not easy to determine to what extent this study’s findings are intricately tied to whether the dominant church is Catholic or Protestant. The relationship to Catholicism is very different depending on the country; thus, for a majority of the items, it is two Catholic countries (Ireland and Belgium) whose responses are both the least and most favorable.
In Britain, the decrease came about only progressively, and especially near the end of the nineteenth century. This points to a dissonance between people’s contraceptive practices and the dominant church’s stance on contraception, a stance that is strong in the French church but weaker in the English church.
La Vie, 27 March 1997, 3.
Riffaut, Valeurs 316.
Gilles Keppel, Les banlieues de l’Islam ( Paris: Seuil, 1987 ), 225–312.
Advisory opinion (avis) 27 November 1989, RFSP (1991) 45; Decision (arrêt) 2 November 1992, Rec., 389.
Régis Dericquebourg, “Les Témoins de Jéhovah: vers une sortie de la logique sectaire,” in Françoise Champion and Martine Cohen, eds., Sectes et démocratie, (Paris: Seuil, 1999), 105–25. On the general subject of sects, see Jean Baubérot, “Laïcité, sectes, sociétés,” in Champion, Sectes 314–30.
IVI (Invitation à la Vie Intense) originated in France during the 1980s, true to its founder’s understanding of certain Roman Catholic traditions. Adherents of IVI observe, among other beliefs, the use of alternative medicine and prayer as treatments for illness (Jean Vernette, Dictionnaire des groupes religieux aujourd’hui [Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995], 143).
Consider, for example, the group INFORM directed by the sociologist Eileen Barker at the London School of Economics.
Alain Garay, L’activisme anti-secte de l’assistance à l’amalgame ( New York: Edwin Mellen, 1999 ).
See n. 26 in this article.
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Baubérot, J. (2004). The Place of Religion in Public Life: The Lay Approach. In: Lindholm, T., Durham, W.C., Tahzib-Lie, B.G., Sewell, E.A., Larsen, L. (eds) Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-5616-7_18
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