Explanation about "Laïcité" to my friends abroad

Freedom of speech

For the past few weeks, we heard a lot of criticisms about our president who said that freedom of speech is a key value in our country and publishing caricatures and blasphemes will never stop in France. It's uncommon to read that here but for once, we support Macron. It would be better if he would remember that filming and publishing proofs of police violence should not be a crime either, but that's another debate.

All around the world, a lot of people felt insulted by these words. In Western countries, we heard some officials saying that French should be more respectful to other's religion. The problem is that we see religion as an opinion : you can believe or not, which means that you can have an opinion about any religion and expresses it if you want. If you can't say anything about a religion because it could hurt someone else's belief, then what happens to freedom of speech? Would you stop saying that USSR was a totalitarian regime which killed millions because it would hurt your old communist uncle's feeling? Could you still say that the French football team is the best in the world if it saddens your Belgian neighbour?

The idea here is not excuse racism and islamophobia. These things are targetting people, they reveal intolerance and hate. When you criticise a religion, you talk about an idea. It is not pleasant to hear when you strongly believe in this idea but it shouldn't be seen as a personal attack. If you want to defend an idea, you need to debate, not to fight. An idea needs arguments, not weapons, to be spread.

Laïcité is not atheism

Almost nobody understand the idea of "laïcité", which the base of the system of tolerance about religion in France. This notion is impossible to translate with only one word in English. Saying that the French Republic is "laïque" doesn't mean the it fights against religions or promote atheism.

Unlike in the USA, our constitution doesn't say that "all men are created equals". In France, "all men are BORN equal" in the declaration of human rights of 1789. You could think it implies that the Republic is against religions, but let's not forget that this declaration was written "under the good omens of the Supreme Being", which is far from denying the existence of any god.

Moreover, the law of 1905 which separated the State from the Churches didn't aim to erase religions. One of the point was to separate the political power from the religious one. This separation works both ways : religions shouldn't have influence on political decisions but governments shouldn't have influence on religion either. The first article of this law says that the Republic protects freedom of conscience and ensures the practice of religions. That's why most churches (the buildings) and synagogues belong to the cities, that's why the French government paid to build the first big mosque in Paris in the 1920's.

To ensure that everybody can believe what they want, practice their religion the way they want, the civil law must be considered as higher than any religious law in our country. That's why blasphemy can't be crime in France : to protect each other's beliefs. A simple example is to consider the opposition between Christianity and Islam. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the son of God and Its last prophet. Considering that another prophet received the words of God after Jesus is a blasphemy for them. It means that the Muslim prayer saying that Muhammad is a prophet is a blasphemy according to the Christian religions.

Without the separation of the State and the Churches, there is no religious freedom. You can disagree on some drawings published in some newspapers, but you can't blame the Republic to protect the freedom to publish it because that's the exact same freedom that you have to practice your religion.

An unperfect principle

No system is perfect, Laïcité is not an exception. For decades, this principle has been twisted by far right movements and conservative politicians to make people think that Islam is a problem in France. Some say they are shocked to see Muslims paying in the street whereas religion is supposed to be something private. They forget that it happens because their mosques are too small and not adapted to some big gatherings, and these places are too small because nobody wants to give some money the build places of worships for any religion (except for Catholics, whose churches are maintained by the local public powers, which means thanks to our taxes, including the ones paid by the Muslims citizens).

The French system is not as unified as we could think : some regions of France have specificities. For example, some citizens are subjects to different laws according to their religion in some French Islands In Mayotte, some conflicts are judged according to local customs inspired by the Koran and enforced by an Islamic judge. In Alsace-Moselle, there is no separation of State and Churches : Priests and Rabbis are paid by the State as public servants. In French Guyana, only the Catholic Church is recognised and priests are public servants too. That's why the Minister of home affairs is also in charge of religions in France.

A strict separation for a peaceful society

Separating the Churches from the State is a way to ensure the freedom of religion. It's also a way to avoid conflicts. By considering religion as a private thing, French citizens can live with less tensions with neighbours who don't share their beliefs. Of course, it's not that simple, but it's a first step. It means that you can marry someone who believe in something different (remember that it was not the case in France before the French Revolution), you can't be discriminated according to your religion (even if it happens a lot, it's a crime), your religion is not written on your ID card (which was the case in Greece until 2000).

Remember also that, whatever you believe in, the most discriminated religious opinion in the world is atheism. Apostasy (the act of renouncing a religion) or conversion to another religion are still capital crimes in some countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia or Sudan. In France, you can have the religion you want, or no religion at all, you can convert or abandon a religion, you can believe in whatever you want. The only limitation is that your beliefs doesn't disturb the public peace and doesn't promote violence and hatred. And however you feel about president Macron, that's a system which is worth protecting.