{"id":13819,"date":"2022-12-15T10:22:50","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T08:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/?p=13819"},"modified":"2022-12-15T10:49:35","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T08:49:35","slug":"on-the-state-and-religions-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/on-the-state-and-religions-in-france\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"On the State and Religions in France"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tallandier.com\/livre\/leternel-defi\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13695 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-25-at-17-00-05-eternel-defi-plat1.jpg.webp-Image-WEBP-250-\u00d7-370-pixels.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-25-at-17-00-05-eternel-defi-plat1.jpg.webp-Image-WEBP-250-\u00d7-370-pixels.png 250w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-25-at-17-00-05-eternel-defi-plat1.jpg.webp-Image-WEBP-250-\u00d7-370-pixels-203x300.png 203w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-25-at-17-00-05-eternel-defi-plat1.jpg.webp-Image-WEBP-250-\u00d7-370-pixels-99x146.png 99w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-25-at-17-00-05-eternel-defi-plat1.jpg.webp-Image-WEBP-250-\u00d7-370-pixels-34x50.png 34w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-25-at-17-00-05-eternel-defi-plat1.jpg.webp-Image-WEBP-250-\u00d7-370-pixels-51x75.png 51w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>After his reference book on the relationship between religion and politics in the French Revolution<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13819_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13819_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13819_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13819_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13819_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(1)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13819_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Lucien Jaume,\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.puf.com\/content\/Le_religieux_et_le_politique_dans_la_R%C3%A9volution_fran%C3%A7aise\"><i>Le religieux et le politique dans la R\u00e9volution fran\u00e7aise. L&#8217;id\u00e9e de r\u00e9g\u00e9n\u00e9ration<\/i><\/a> (PUF, 2015<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13819_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13819_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>), Lucien Jaume, director of research emeritus at CEVIPOF, continues his study of the tensions and associations between politics and religion. In his new book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tallandier.com\/livre\/leternel-defi\/\">L\u2019\u00c9ternel d\u00e9fi. L\u2019\u00c9tat et les religions en France des origines \u00e0 nos jours<\/a> [The eternal challenge. The State and religions in France from its origins to today] (Tallandier, 2022), he provides an in-depth examination of the various meanings of <i>la\u00efcit\u00e9<\/i>. Rising above the polemics, he explores its roots and evolution, and embraces the lively debates that it continues to generate today. Presentation.<\/p>\n<p>In this new book, I study the historical, intellectual and legal-institutional conditions of <i>la\u00efcit\u00e9<\/i> in France. I also analyse how this idea evolved after emerging in the public debate in the middle of the 19th century with the historian and statesman Fran\u00e7ois Guizot and the philosopher and politician Victor Cousin in response to the Catholic Church\u2019s demand for \u2018freedom of education\u2019.<br \/>\nIn France, <i>la\u00efcit\u00e9<\/i> differs from secularism insofar as it reflects a truly republican philosophy inspired by Human Rights, Christianity (especially Protestantism), and Kantian philosophy (education of reason for self-governance). For some authors, and many in this book, it even lays claim to a \u2018spiritual power\u2019. School plays a major role in the dissemination of a specific secular morality (still stated in the <i>Official Bulletin<\/i>), as conceived by <a href=\"https:\/\/fr.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ferdinand_Buisson\">Ferdinand Buisson<\/a>; the mission that successive ministers assigned to school is both to instruct the mind and to form a civic conscience\u2009\u2013\u2009hence the controversies over the \u2018neutrality\u2019 of schools and of the Republic. Jules Ferry explained in a parliamentary session: \u2018We promised denominational neutrality, but never political or philosophical neutrality.\u2019 Moreover, Minister Ferry and Buisson agreed that: \u2018La\u00efque teaching is distinct from religious teaching, but does not contradict it\u2019 (speech in the Chambers and \u2018la\u00efcit\u00e9\u2019 article in the <a href=\"https:\/\/gallica.bnf.fr\/ark:\/12148\/bpt6k24232h.texteImage\"><i>Dictionnaire de p\u00e9dagogie<\/i><\/a> [pedagogical dictionary] edited by F. Buisson).<br \/>\nAlthough my book leads to a redefinition of <i>la\u00efcit\u00e9\u2009\u2013\u2009<\/i>given the changes that occurred between the Third Republic and the 2020s\u2009\u2013\u2009its scope is broader. The reflection builds on a theoretical question about the enduring relationship between state authority and religious freedom. According to the major political figure, Aristide Briand (explanatory memorandum of the 1905 law), these relations have been worth considering since the distant Carolingian era, when the king of the Franks (Pepin the Short, father of Charlemagne) agreed to militarily liberate the states of the pope threatened by the Lombards and to protect them. In exchange, France received the spiritual protection of the Pope and endorsement of the <i>divine legitimacy<\/i> of its kings. The long history of the two \u2018challenges\u2019\u2009\u2013\u2009that which the State poses to the religious world, and that which religions periodically pose to the State\u2009\u2013\u2009is worth analysing over time and with precision. Doing so requires going back to Gallicanism under Louis\u00a0XIV, the Revolution and its three declensions (Civil Constitution of the Clergy, cult of the Supreme Being in 1794, and separation of the State and religions under the Directorate), the Concordat, and the current role of the Council of State, in a society where globalisation leads to a proliferation of \u2018beliefs\u2019 and dilutes Catholic ties.<br \/>\nOn the theoretical level, <i>L\u2019Eternel d\u00e9fi<\/i> compares the French conception of <i>la\u00efcit\u00e9<\/i> with the notion of <i>tolerance<\/i> favoured in Anglo-Saxon thinking\u2009\u2013\u2009a major difference that spurs discussion and misunderstanding. Similarly, approaching \u2018secularism\u2019 from an American perspective underscores the fundamental role of the judge on the other side of the Atlantic. The latter must ensure <i>equality<\/i> between the many \u2018denominations\u2019, and is confronted with a very wide range of cases that can be very different from what France or Europe might experience. For example, a judge may need to rule on whether a baker who declares himself to be a Christian can refuse to sell his products for use in the wedding ceremony of a homosexual couple, or whether a student wishing to demonstrate opposition to the war in Vietnam could wear an armband in class signalling opposition to this war. Of the various forms or secularism in the world today, that of France can only be understood by considering its political culture, history (notably marked by the religious wars and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes that hit Protestants), and the important link that it maintains with European rationalism (Ren\u00e9 Descartes, Emmanuel Kant, and Alain, among others).<br \/>\nThis historical legacy is all the more important to consider that Islam\u2009\u2013\u2009a recent arrival to France via economic immigration\u2009\u2013\u2009does not fit into the previous configuration.<br \/>\nCatholicism, Protestantism and Judaism established relations defined after the Concordat by the 1905 law of separation between the Churches and the State and subsequent amendments. The latter sometimes revived the controversy over the financing of private education using public funds\u2009\u2013\u2009a decision that the Constitutional Council validated. But when faced with a religion that is not established as a Church\u2009\u2013\u2009Sunni Islam\u2009\u2013\u2009the State appears uncomfortable, and even awkward. The question of <i>representation<\/i> of the faithful constantly reemerges despite the pacts, charters, and commitments that successive ministers of the interior have tried to get adopted by a \u2018community\u2019 that is actually divided into multiple associations and served by imams of multiple origins.<br \/>\n<i>The Eternel Challenge<\/i> draws on a host of historians, Islamologists, and philosophers to trace the conflicts and various visions of the caliphate, from Mohammed to the 11th century. The book underscores the dispossession of the spiritual authority that befell the caliphs to the benefit of the unstructured world of the ulama, who appropriated the legislation of daily life and the interpretation of the texts (Koran, <i>hadiths<\/i> of the prophet, and the S<i>unna <\/i>tradition). This examination of the history of the caliphate raises the question of the conditions (political, but also theological) under which acceptance of the authority of the republican state in France can be built, and according to what consensus.<br \/>\nThe recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfcm-officiel.fr\/presentation-de-la-charte-des-principes-pour-lislam-de-france-au-president-de-la-republique\/\">Charter of principles for Islam in France<\/a> (January 2021), ultimately signed by most Muslim organisations and published on the website of the Great Mosque of Paris, seems to mark a major step forward: jihadist Islamism is specifically condemned in precise terms, the French Constitution and the rights mentioned in the European Charter are declared unreservedly binding on the French territory for Muslims. Gender equality is not up for debate or downplay.<br \/>\nThe book also considers the remarks of some jurists on the issue of the veil (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/jorf\/id\/JORFTEXT000000417977\/\">2004 law <\/a>prohibiting students from wearing signs or clothing that ostensibly manifest a religious affiliation), following the extensions that legislators thought necessary to develop, culminating in the recent law on measures reinforcing the principles of the Republic (summer\u00a02021). The latter has raised fears in various churches, and reinforces the notion of public order, which has moved from <i>material<\/i> measures (traffic, urban planning, public markets) to a sort of public <i>morality<\/i> of. According to the jurist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsrl-cnrs.fr\/rolland-patrice\/\">Patrice Rolland<\/a>, <i>la\u00efcit<\/i>\u00e9 tends to expand its remit to an excessively extensive and social \u2018public order\u2019 to reform mores. However, as some authors recall in line with <a href=\"https:\/\/fr.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jean_Baub%C3%A9rot\">Jean Baub\u00e9rot<\/a>, it is the State that must be <i>la\u00efc<\/i>, not society.<br \/>\nWhen viewed through a French lens, <i>la\u00efcit\u00e9<\/i> is particularly complex for two main reasons.<br \/>\nOn the one hand, the past weighs \u2018like a nightmare on the brains of the living\u2019, as Marx wrote in another context. On the other hand, only in-depth, interdisciplinary, and patient research can enable identifying and interweaving the different threads of this skein: public law, history, philosophy, theology of the three monotheisms, and political theory. All of these forms of knowledge are needed to shed light, as the great historian and philosopher <a href=\"https:\/\/fr.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mohammed_Arkoun\">Mohammed Arkoun<\/a> called for. My work contrasts the discourses of actors in political situations, institutions, and even religious dogma in order to uncover frequently implicit issues that shape discussions and misunderstandings. The goal is to answer two major questions. First, what the State can and wants to do with regard to religions. Second, what history shows about the relationship between sovereign authority and the freedom to believe, or not to believe.<br \/>\nIn the future, a third part of this study will develop a critical approach to so-called \u2018political\u00a0 religions\u2019 a term that historians have used to designate fascism, sometimes national socialism, and even communism. The study will question the validity of this label, discuss the theses of historians, and examine their relevance today.<\/p>\n<pre>Emeritus CNRS research director at CEVIPOF, Lucien Jaume teaches political philosophy at Sciences Po.\u00a0 The author of an intellectual biography of Tocqueville awarded by the French Academy, he is also the author of \u2018Le religieux et le politique dans la R\u00e9volution fran\u00e7aise \u2014 L\u2019id\u00e9e de r\u00e9g\u00e9n\u00e9ration\u2019 [Religion and politics in the French Revolution\u2009\u2013\u2009the idea of regeneration] (PUF, 2015), \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.revuedesdeuxmondes.fr\/article-revue\/robespierre-et-letre-supreme-ou-de-lusage-du-religieux-en-revolution\/\">Robespierre et l\u2019\u00catre supr\u00eame, ou de l\u2019usage du religieux en r\u00e9volution\u2019<\/a> [Robespierre and the Supreme Being, or the use of religion in revolution] (<i>Revue des Deux Mondes<\/i>, 2015) and \u2019<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/44435999\">Observations sur l\u2019esprit terroriste\u00a0: 1793 et 2015\u2032<\/a> [Observations on the terrorist spirit: 1793 and 2015] (<i>Revue des Deux Mondes<\/i>, 2016), making him one of the leading experts on the modern relationship between politics and religion.<\/pre>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_13819_1();\">Notes<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_13819_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_13819_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_13819_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">Notes<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13819_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13819_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13819_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Lucien Jaume,\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.puf.com\/content\/Le_religieux_et_le_politique_dans_la_R%C3%A9volution_fran%C3%A7aise\"><i>Le religieux et le politique dans la R\u00e9volution fran\u00e7aise. L&#8217;id\u00e9e de r\u00e9g\u00e9n\u00e9ration<\/i><\/a> (PUF, 2015<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_13819_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_13819_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_13819_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_13819_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_13819_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_13819_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_13819_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_13819_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_13819_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_13819_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_13819_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_13819_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_13819_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_13819_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After his reference book on the relationship between religion and politics in the French Revolution(1)Lucien Jaume,\u00a0 Le religieux et le politique dans la R\u00e9volution fran\u00e7aise.<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,308],"tags":[218,69],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13819\/?lang=en"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/?lang=en"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/?lang=en"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3\/?lang=en"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?lang=en&post=13819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13819\/revisions\/?lang=en"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13820,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13819\/revisions\/13820\/?lang=en"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13708\/?lang=en"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?lang=en&parent=13819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?lang=en&post=13819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?lang=en&post=13819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}