The celebration of the 120th anniversary of the Law of 9 December 1905 on the Separation of Church and State gives the associations that signed this text an opportunity to reiterate how essential secularism is to the organisation of democratic life. They thus echo the intention of the Constitution, which made it one of the founding principles of the Republic by placing it at the service of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
Linking France to the community of democratic nations, secularism has its origins in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. By establishing “the principle of all sovereignty in the nation” (Art. 3), the Declaration affirms the autonomy of political power with regard to divine laws; by affirming that “no one may be disturbed on account of their opinions, even religious ones, provided that their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law ” (Art. 10), it allows everyone to choose their own beliefs or convictions in complete independence. This marks a decisive break with the order of the Ancien Régime, based on the primacy and unity of faith. It was left to the legislation of the Third Republic to confirm the provisions established in 1789. The law of 9 December 1905, which the Council of State has described as the “cornerstone” of French secularism, crowned the secular construction by establishing the separation of church and state.
Although the text contains technical provisions concerning the internal organisation of religious groups, it mainly comprises two fundamental elements. Firstly, it enshrines freedom of conscience, considered in its dual individual and collective dimensions. This appears in Article 11. Freedom thus calls for equality: the law protects believers and non-believers equally, without discrimination on the basis of religious or philosophical beliefs. Secondly, by stating in Article 2 that “the Republic does not recognise, pay or subsidise any religion“, the law affirms the neutrality of the State. The State must maintain an equal distance from all comprehensive conceptions of good in order to preserve the right to equal freedom of conscience for all citizens.
However, over the last three decades, the principle of secularism has been distorted from its original principles: once a mechanism for protecting individual freedom, it has become a tool for defending so-called “national identity“. Secularism based on autonomy has been replaced by secularism based on surveillance. Stemming from a refusal to accept the openness of today’s society to the plurality of its cultural components, thereby countering the universalist ethics of the Republic, it reveals an identity-based, and sometimes ethnic, conception of the nation. This new model has taken on a new legal form through a series of laws and regulations that found their limiting consecration in the law of 24 August 2021 aimed at “reinforcing respect for the principles of the Republic“.
This unprecedented legislation introduced a double change, breaking with the principles of 1905. Until then, the requirement for neutrality applied only to state spaces and agents; the social space, on the other hand, subject to the requirements of public order, was an area of expression open to the expression of a plurality of beliefs. However, as evidenced by certain recent legislative proposals, there are now calls to extend the rule of discretion in religious matters to ordinary citizens.
Secondly, the “new secularism” has, in a parallel movement, reduced the sphere of freedom. By waving the red flag of ‘separatism’, by emphasising to some of our compatriots their ‘duty of emancipation’, and by acting as the guardian of good behaviour, the State has entered into areas of religion and belief that it had previously left entirely free. It is now intervening by regulating the wearing of clothing. It subjects local authorities to unprecedented controls.
It reduces the scope of autonomy of both religious associations and ordinary associations. Despite the principle of separation, the law of 24 August 2021 goes so far as to offer prefects the possibility of refusing certain associations the status of religious associations, forcing them to undergo cumbersome administrative procedures, renewable every five years, thus threatening their survival.
Should we resign ourselves to this authoritarian drift? On the contrary, the signatories of this text call for resistance. Their view is that this new interpretation accentuates mistrust within society and prevents harmonious coexistence. Without denying the importance of integrating citizens into a shared public space organised around respect for the freedom of others and the pursuit of the common good, they call for the restoration of secularism to its historical foundations, returning to the original vision that made it a system for promoting freedom rather than monitoring opinion.
From this perspective, there are three objectives to be met:
▪ First, to restore the right to freedom of conscience. Everyone must be able to express their own convictions and beliefs in the social sphere without being subjected to any social invisibility or artificial ideological homogeneity in the name of a moral order defined by the state.
▪ Next, we must rebuild the independence of the political sphere. One of the main reasons for the 1905 law was to place the state outside the control of the churches. We wish to return to this aim, which is the condition for autonomous public action that is free from any submission to the various clergy and determined solely by civic deliberation.
▪ Finally, we must reconnect with the idea of social rights. During the 1905 deliberations, several defenders of the law, such as Jean Jaurès, asserted that “the Republic would remain secular only on condition that it be social“. This is also a key point of this declaration: there can be no real freedom without improving the material conditions in which individuals live their lives.
Let us rediscover the meaning of secularism, let us fight for a secularism of freedom that is nourished by fraternity and the common good, let us ensure its future!
Signatures:
♦Jean-Louis Bianco (Honorary President of La Vigie de la Laïcité)
♦Christian Eyschen (Secretary General of Libre Pensée)
♦Anne-Marie Harster (President of Solidarité laïque)
♦Emmanuelle Huisman-Perrin (Head of Secularism at the Union Rationaliste)
♦ Hélène Lacassagne (President of the Ligue de l’Enseignement)
♦ Nathalie Tehio (President of the Human Rights League)
