point to understand the foment of history in forming the French consciousness and setting the scene for future, interminable clashes between Church, State, and citizens.
Luther’s Reformation in Germany crossed into France where the seeds of Reformation were alternately sown and uprooted. Donald Kelley, in his book The Beginning of Ideology and Holt in Renaissance and Reformation in France, examine the influences of the Reformation and the religious conflicts which arose.12 Kelley has a chapter in which he demonstrates the important role of printing in disseminating both Reformation and counter-Reformation ideology, where the “war of words” preceded the Wars of Religion. Philip Benedict and Virginia Reinburg likewise present the importance of the printing press in the dissemination of the evangelical faith in France through the writings of Luther and Calvin.13 Holt explains how the Wars of Religion “proved to be the single most dangerous threat to the French state and monarchy before the Revolution of 1789.”14 These books provide essential historical elements on the early clashes between Protestantism and Catholicism which become crucial in understanding the growing desire for the promised Republican liberty in the 1789 French Revolution.
French religious historian Alain Boyer makes a significant contribution in a chapter on Protestants and their relation to the law of 1905. He states that during the French Revolution, generally speaking, Protestants regarded with envy the Declaration of the Bill of Rights [1791] in the United States.15 He also notes that Protestants accepted the 1801 Concordat between Napoleon and the Vatican because of the favorable treatment accorded Reformed and Lutheran believers. However, they found fault in that the Concordat gave a place of eminence to the Catholic Church and assumed that the head of State would be Catholic.16 He further asserts that the great majority of Protestants, especially Reformed believers, and even more so members of free churches [Églises libres], were favorable toward the separation.17
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.
