One particularly noteworthy historical event preceding the law of 1905 was the Dreyfus Affair. L’Affaire, as it has become known, demonstrates the competing forces at work to either reestablish the monarchy and Church in power or to solidify and advance the unfulfilled ideals of the 1789 Revolution. Among the books which connect l’Affaire with the religio-political struggles are the works of Cahm and Begley. Cahm observes, “French Catholicism at the end of the nineteenth century still bore the mark of the Church’s traditional theological anti-Judaism, based on the twin ideas of the Jewish people as deicides and as the embodiment of Evil.”18 A more recent work by Louis Begley notes “the struggle over the role of the Catholic church in education and the state, which the church lost when a law voted in on December 9, 1905, terminated the concordat between France and the Vatican and provided for a strict separation between church and state.”19 L’Affaire provides a window to see more clearly the impulses at that time for Church and State separation.
One of the observations made in this book is that the marginalization of religion has taken place in its removal from public space. Guy Haarscher affirms the classic understanding that laïcité is a political concept where the State does not privilege any religious confession and ensures the free expression of conscience to everyone. He does, however, recognize that laïcité might push religion strictly into the private sphere. In light of the multiculturalist experiences of many nations, Haarscher attempts to reconcile the law of 1905 with its contemporary ideal in France.20 Olivier Roy, cited earlier, is one of many French intellectuals questioning the role of laïcité in French society. His writings are indispensable for anyone wanting an insider perspective. He has written extensively on laïcité in confrontation with Islam. He recognizes that Islam’s presence in France has raised questions about whether Islam is compatible with laïcité française and whether Islam is a threat comparable to or greater than the threat of Catholicism at the beginning of the twentieth century. He warns against making laïcité a civil religion requiring adhesion to a body of common values and concludes that the problem is not Islam, but contemporary forms of the return of religion.21 Jean Baubérot is one of the most prolific writers on the topic of laïcité.22 He advances the idea of a plurality of laïcités from sociological, historical, and political perspectives. Baubérot also writes on religious themes—the foundations and evolution of religions and the intersection of faith and laïcité.23
The French concept of laïcité casts a long shadow over France in contemporary times and provides a lens for understanding current attitudes and events. As stated earlier, the law of 1905 reflects a culmination of events in France’s history and a precursor of events which would frame the French Constitutions in 1946 and 1958. Henri Pena-Ruiz asserts that the experience of the wars of religion and the persecutions tied to creedal obligation contributed greatly to the emergence of a laïque conscience.24 Those interested in understanding the French laïque conscience, or religious worldview, cannot afford to neglect the historical events preceding and surrounding the law of 1905, the far-reaching consequences of the law in the development of a culture imbibed with laïcité, and the present-day challenges in understanding a laïque nation with varying degrees of hostility or indifference to religion. France mesmerizes and mystifies Americans. We are often baffled by their general indifference to religion and their laws forbidding religious symbols in public schools, full-face veils in public places, and even the interdiction of burkinis on French beaches. Understand laïcité and one will gain insight in beginning to understand France and its people.
3. All translations are my own.
4. Pagnol, Le château, 127.
5. Maslowski, “Les chrétiens avec ou sans Dieu,” 214.
6. Bowen, Headscarves, 17.
7. Roy, Laïcité face à l’islam, 19–20.
8. Roy, Laïcité face à l’islam, 29.
9. Cabanel, Les mots de la laïcité, 64.
10. Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, xvii.
11. Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence, xvii.
12. Kelley, Beginning of Ideology; Holt, “Kingdom of France.”
13. Benedict and Reinburg, “Religion and the Sacred.”
14. Holt, “Kingdom of France,” 23.
15. Boyer, La loi de 1905, 71.
16. Boyer, La loi de 1905, 69–70.
17. Boyer, La loi de 1905, 72.
18. Cahm, Dreyfus Affair, 90.
19. Begley, Dreyfus Affair, 56.
20. Haarscher, La Laïcité.
21. Roy, Laïcité face à l’islam, 172.
22. Baubérot, La laïcité; Histoire de la laïcité.
23. Baubérot, Petite histoire du christianisme; Baubérot and Carbonnier-Burkard, Histoire des protestants.
24. Pena-Ruiz, Qu’est-ce que la laïcité?, 265.
1
Laïcité and the
Religious Question
Any attempt to understand the history of French laïcité is confronted with the challenge of where to begin, what to include, and what to omit. For present purposes, it must suffice to survey major events, personages, and themes which marked French history and contributed to the emergence of juridical laïcité in the early twentieth century. We seek to understand the historical context out of which the French concept of laïcité arose, the implications of the 1905 legal separation of Church and State, the demise of religion in France, and the current revival of interest in the subject of laïcité with the emergence of Islam and its claims. According to French philosopher and historian Marcel Gauchet, the history of laïcité in France is closely linked to the history of the State as one of the major actors in the process of the removal of religion from the