Michael Ejercito
2016-12-30 14:10:52 UTC
Secularism: Everyone Wants to Get Rid of It
by Yves Mamou
December 30, 2016 at 5:30 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9589/secularism-france
Now, after more than a century of separation of powers between church and
state, an intolerant and extremist Islam is disrupting the rules of the
game, invading public spaces, schools, universities and companies with the
veil, halal food and open violence.
"By making the public space empty of everything that brings us together...
Islamists are eager to fill it, especially in disillusioned, brainless and
uprooted young heads". — François Fillon, a former Prime Minister of France,
who is running for president in the 2017 election.
"Secularism is just becoming a religion opposed to all other religions",
said Tariq Ramadan, a prominent figure of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Switzerland and France. He congratulated mayors on Christmas nativity scenes
probably because he sees it as an opening for Islamic opportunities in the
public sphere. "We need a Republic authorizing the visibility of diversity
and not a Republic of neutrality," he said.
Can a French municipality erect a statue of the Virgin Mary in a public
park? The answer is No. France's Administrative Court has given the mayor of
Publier, in eastern France (population 6500), three months to comply with
the ban on religious symbols in public spaces and to remove the statue. If
the municipality fails to do so, it will be fined €100 ($105) a day. Mayor
Gaston Lacroix said he will try to relocate the marble statue on private
land.
France's 1905 Law on the Separation of the Churches and the State (Article
2) states that "The Republic does not recognize, pay or subsidize any
religious sect"; article 28 prohibits any religious symbol on public
monuments.
The Virgin May statue in Publier, on the bottom of which is inscribed "Our
Lady of Geneva Lake watch over your children", has a long story. It was
installed in the town park in August 2011, without debate. The statue was
acquired with taxpayer money: €23,700 (USD $26,000). Acknowledging at the
time that he had "joked a little with the 1905 law" on the separation of
church and the state, the mayor had to sell the statue to a local religious
association.
Now, the mayor has to remove the statue from the public park. He tried to
privatize the piece of land where the statue is erected, but the land-sale
project was rejected by the court.
This story of a statue of the Virgin Mary illustrates the difficulties of
secularism, the defense of French identity, the fight against Islamism, and
the contradictory interests of different political parties in France.
Originally, secularism in France was established to push religion out of the
public sphere. An authentic war was conducted at the end of 19th century and
beginning of 20th to push a very obscurantist Catholic Church out of all
public spaces. According to historian Jacques Julliard:
"Mgr de Quélen, Archbishop of Paris, remains famous for having said 'not
only was Jesus the son of God, but his mother came from a very good family'.
For the Republic, fighting the church was a fight for the liberation of the
minds, for the construction of a school for knowledge (against belief)
liberated from priests, the building of an open society..."
Now, after more than a century of separation of powers between church and
state, an intolerant and extremist Islam is disrupting the rules of the
game, invading public spaces, schools, universities and companies with the
veil, halal food and open violence. But instead of uniting against this
troublemaker, French society today is openly divided.
French state institutions and the political class (left and right) are fully
responsible for this division, which is also the result of confusion.
Instead of naming Islamism the enemy, all governments, left and right, have
chosen the wrong path of appeasement and increasing concessions -- refusing
to name Islamism as solely responsible for terrorism, refusing to consider
the Islamic veil as a tool of separatism, and letting Salafist mosques
multiply -- in the vain hope of calming what is claimed to be the legitimate
anger of Muslims against "discrimination".
Because the state refused or was unable to elaborate a strategy for a
renewed secularism, actors on the ground (especially mayors of the 35,000
municipalities of France) were left alone. In 2014 and 2015, some of them
(no one knows how many) chose to install or subsidize nativity scenes in the
lobbies of their city halls. Immediately, French political passions burst
into the debate.
Free thinkers, all parties of the left and the extreme left, green parties
and partisans of multiculturalism went to court to fight the Christ child's
cribs. On the opposite side, some on the right and the extreme right
supported the Christ child's crib. In the middle, some supporters of
secularism tried to calm everyone down, but without great success.
On November 14, 2014, the Administrative Court of Nantes decided on appeal
to strike down the initial prohibition of a Christmas nativity scene in the
Departmental Hall of Vendée. In another case, on October 8, 2015, the
Administrative Court of Paris struck down on appeal an initial judgement
authorizing the mayor of Melun to display a nativity crib.
On December 1, 2016, the Lille Administrative Court cancelled the decision
of the municipality of Henin-Beaumont (affiliated with the "far right" Front
National) to install a Christmas nativity crib in the lobby of City Hall.
In November 2015, just before the Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris, in
which 130 people were murdered, the powerful Association of Mayors of France
(AMF) relaunched the controversy by recommending, in the name of secularism,
not to install Christmas nativity scenes. Immediately, three mayors from the
Front National, and some others from the opposition party, Les Republicains,
left the AMF. Marion Maréchal-Le Pen of the National Front, and the
granddaughter of the party's founder, stated:
"This recommendation is a provocation. Secularism is the neutrality of
public authorities regarding religions, separation of Church and State, and
refusal to finance any sect, but secularism does not mean the disappearance
of our folk traditions that may have a religious connotation. Catholic in
particular."
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, president of Debout La France ("Stand Up France"),
said AMF's decision is "silly". He added:
"French people cherish their culture. Some mayors put Christmas cribs in
their town halls, others do not. If French people love Christmas trees, find
it convenient to call Easter holidays "Easter holidays," and have Christian
cribs in city halls, let them do it. Do not cut the roots of the French,
stop denying our people the right to be themselves."
On the left, most leaders refused to comment because they were afraid to
engage in a debate with the Front National.
On November 9, 2016, the Conseil d'État (Council of State), the highest
administrative court in France, edited guidelines for local administrative
courts to allow Christmas nativity scenes in city halls, but under strict
conditions (no proselytizing). In others words, a Christian display is
authorized if all elements of Christianity are removed from it. A nativity
scene must be "folklore" to be authorized, and nativity cribs that belong to
a religious organization remain prohibited in city halls.
If nativity scenes are an extremely ancient Christian tradition, the
installation of Christmas nativity scenes in city halls is very recent. One
of the oldest was inaugurated in 1989. In most instances, displaying
nativity scenes was a reaction to try to preserve French culture, and a
claim to preserve the Christian roots of France -- mostly, and without
saying it -- against Islam.
François Fillon, a former Prime Minister of France, who is running for
president in the 2017 election as the candidate of the main center-right
party, welcomed the decision of the Council of State. In Valeurs Actuelles,
he said:
"Christmas has long since left the only sectarian domain, the one of
religion, to get into the cultural universe, that of civilization... By
making the public space empty of everything that brings us together, by
sucking everything that makes the thickness and depth of the collective
being French, secularism is, paradoxically, the useful idiot of
sectarianism: all the space it empties, Islamists are eager to fill it,
especially in disillusioned, brainless and uprooted young heads".
In France, François Fillon (right), a former Prime Minister who is running
for president in the 2017 election, welcomed a recent court decision to
allow Christmas nativity scenes in city halls.
This argument, of "secularism as a vacuum", was also developed by Philippe
de Villiers, a prominent figure of the right and founder of Movement for
France (MPF). In the weeks before the Council of State's decision, Villiers
gave an interview to Le Figaro entitled, "Yes to nativity cribs, No to
djallabas". He explained:
"I expect the Council of State to make the choice, not of a secular vacuum,
which would be an in-draft to Islam, but to make the choice of a living
secularism, which is consistent with our traditions.... The Council of State
said "yes" to the burkini. If they say "no" to Christmas nativity scenes,
(they) will no longer be the Council of State of France that protects us.
They will become the Council of Islamic State".
The debate seems booby-trapped. Because the left has been unable to renew
and impose secularism, today the "right" and Islamists have agreed to get
rid of it.
"Secularism is just becoming a religion opposed to all other religions",
said Tariq Ramadan, a prominent figure of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Switzerland and France, in 2014. He congratulated mayors on Christmas
nativity scenes probably because he sees it as an opening for Islamic
opportunities in the public sphere. "We need a Republic authorizing the
visibility of diversity, and not a Republic of neutrality," Ramadan said.
Yves Mamou is a journalist and author based in France. He worked for two
decades for the daily, Le Monde, before his retirement.
by Yves Mamou
December 30, 2016 at 5:30 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9589/secularism-france
Now, after more than a century of separation of powers between church and
state, an intolerant and extremist Islam is disrupting the rules of the
game, invading public spaces, schools, universities and companies with the
veil, halal food and open violence.
"By making the public space empty of everything that brings us together...
Islamists are eager to fill it, especially in disillusioned, brainless and
uprooted young heads". — François Fillon, a former Prime Minister of France,
who is running for president in the 2017 election.
"Secularism is just becoming a religion opposed to all other religions",
said Tariq Ramadan, a prominent figure of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Switzerland and France. He congratulated mayors on Christmas nativity scenes
probably because he sees it as an opening for Islamic opportunities in the
public sphere. "We need a Republic authorizing the visibility of diversity
and not a Republic of neutrality," he said.
Can a French municipality erect a statue of the Virgin Mary in a public
park? The answer is No. France's Administrative Court has given the mayor of
Publier, in eastern France (population 6500), three months to comply with
the ban on religious symbols in public spaces and to remove the statue. If
the municipality fails to do so, it will be fined €100 ($105) a day. Mayor
Gaston Lacroix said he will try to relocate the marble statue on private
land.
France's 1905 Law on the Separation of the Churches and the State (Article
2) states that "The Republic does not recognize, pay or subsidize any
religious sect"; article 28 prohibits any religious symbol on public
monuments.
The Virgin May statue in Publier, on the bottom of which is inscribed "Our
Lady of Geneva Lake watch over your children", has a long story. It was
installed in the town park in August 2011, without debate. The statue was
acquired with taxpayer money: €23,700 (USD $26,000). Acknowledging at the
time that he had "joked a little with the 1905 law" on the separation of
church and the state, the mayor had to sell the statue to a local religious
association.
Now, the mayor has to remove the statue from the public park. He tried to
privatize the piece of land where the statue is erected, but the land-sale
project was rejected by the court.
This story of a statue of the Virgin Mary illustrates the difficulties of
secularism, the defense of French identity, the fight against Islamism, and
the contradictory interests of different political parties in France.
Originally, secularism in France was established to push religion out of the
public sphere. An authentic war was conducted at the end of 19th century and
beginning of 20th to push a very obscurantist Catholic Church out of all
public spaces. According to historian Jacques Julliard:
"Mgr de Quélen, Archbishop of Paris, remains famous for having said 'not
only was Jesus the son of God, but his mother came from a very good family'.
For the Republic, fighting the church was a fight for the liberation of the
minds, for the construction of a school for knowledge (against belief)
liberated from priests, the building of an open society..."
Now, after more than a century of separation of powers between church and
state, an intolerant and extremist Islam is disrupting the rules of the
game, invading public spaces, schools, universities and companies with the
veil, halal food and open violence. But instead of uniting against this
troublemaker, French society today is openly divided.
French state institutions and the political class (left and right) are fully
responsible for this division, which is also the result of confusion.
Instead of naming Islamism the enemy, all governments, left and right, have
chosen the wrong path of appeasement and increasing concessions -- refusing
to name Islamism as solely responsible for terrorism, refusing to consider
the Islamic veil as a tool of separatism, and letting Salafist mosques
multiply -- in the vain hope of calming what is claimed to be the legitimate
anger of Muslims against "discrimination".
Because the state refused or was unable to elaborate a strategy for a
renewed secularism, actors on the ground (especially mayors of the 35,000
municipalities of France) were left alone. In 2014 and 2015, some of them
(no one knows how many) chose to install or subsidize nativity scenes in the
lobbies of their city halls. Immediately, French political passions burst
into the debate.
Free thinkers, all parties of the left and the extreme left, green parties
and partisans of multiculturalism went to court to fight the Christ child's
cribs. On the opposite side, some on the right and the extreme right
supported the Christ child's crib. In the middle, some supporters of
secularism tried to calm everyone down, but without great success.
On November 14, 2014, the Administrative Court of Nantes decided on appeal
to strike down the initial prohibition of a Christmas nativity scene in the
Departmental Hall of Vendée. In another case, on October 8, 2015, the
Administrative Court of Paris struck down on appeal an initial judgement
authorizing the mayor of Melun to display a nativity crib.
On December 1, 2016, the Lille Administrative Court cancelled the decision
of the municipality of Henin-Beaumont (affiliated with the "far right" Front
National) to install a Christmas nativity crib in the lobby of City Hall.
In November 2015, just before the Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris, in
which 130 people were murdered, the powerful Association of Mayors of France
(AMF) relaunched the controversy by recommending, in the name of secularism,
not to install Christmas nativity scenes. Immediately, three mayors from the
Front National, and some others from the opposition party, Les Republicains,
left the AMF. Marion Maréchal-Le Pen of the National Front, and the
granddaughter of the party's founder, stated:
"This recommendation is a provocation. Secularism is the neutrality of
public authorities regarding religions, separation of Church and State, and
refusal to finance any sect, but secularism does not mean the disappearance
of our folk traditions that may have a religious connotation. Catholic in
particular."
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, president of Debout La France ("Stand Up France"),
said AMF's decision is "silly". He added:
"French people cherish their culture. Some mayors put Christmas cribs in
their town halls, others do not. If French people love Christmas trees, find
it convenient to call Easter holidays "Easter holidays," and have Christian
cribs in city halls, let them do it. Do not cut the roots of the French,
stop denying our people the right to be themselves."
On the left, most leaders refused to comment because they were afraid to
engage in a debate with the Front National.
On November 9, 2016, the Conseil d'État (Council of State), the highest
administrative court in France, edited guidelines for local administrative
courts to allow Christmas nativity scenes in city halls, but under strict
conditions (no proselytizing). In others words, a Christian display is
authorized if all elements of Christianity are removed from it. A nativity
scene must be "folklore" to be authorized, and nativity cribs that belong to
a religious organization remain prohibited in city halls.
If nativity scenes are an extremely ancient Christian tradition, the
installation of Christmas nativity scenes in city halls is very recent. One
of the oldest was inaugurated in 1989. In most instances, displaying
nativity scenes was a reaction to try to preserve French culture, and a
claim to preserve the Christian roots of France -- mostly, and without
saying it -- against Islam.
François Fillon, a former Prime Minister of France, who is running for
president in the 2017 election as the candidate of the main center-right
party, welcomed the decision of the Council of State. In Valeurs Actuelles,
he said:
"Christmas has long since left the only sectarian domain, the one of
religion, to get into the cultural universe, that of civilization... By
making the public space empty of everything that brings us together, by
sucking everything that makes the thickness and depth of the collective
being French, secularism is, paradoxically, the useful idiot of
sectarianism: all the space it empties, Islamists are eager to fill it,
especially in disillusioned, brainless and uprooted young heads".
In France, François Fillon (right), a former Prime Minister who is running
for president in the 2017 election, welcomed a recent court decision to
allow Christmas nativity scenes in city halls.
This argument, of "secularism as a vacuum", was also developed by Philippe
de Villiers, a prominent figure of the right and founder of Movement for
France (MPF). In the weeks before the Council of State's decision, Villiers
gave an interview to Le Figaro entitled, "Yes to nativity cribs, No to
djallabas". He explained:
"I expect the Council of State to make the choice, not of a secular vacuum,
which would be an in-draft to Islam, but to make the choice of a living
secularism, which is consistent with our traditions.... The Council of State
said "yes" to the burkini. If they say "no" to Christmas nativity scenes,
(they) will no longer be the Council of State of France that protects us.
They will become the Council of Islamic State".
The debate seems booby-trapped. Because the left has been unable to renew
and impose secularism, today the "right" and Islamists have agreed to get
rid of it.
"Secularism is just becoming a religion opposed to all other religions",
said Tariq Ramadan, a prominent figure of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Switzerland and France, in 2014. He congratulated mayors on Christmas
nativity scenes probably because he sees it as an opening for Islamic
opportunities in the public sphere. "We need a Republic authorizing the
visibility of diversity, and not a Republic of neutrality," Ramadan said.
Yves Mamou is a journalist and author based in France. He worked for two
decades for the daily, Le Monde, before his retirement.