In terms of political philosophy, France's democratic institutions were founded on many of the same values as the United States; each country's founders studied many of the same thinkers of the 18th century. France has a long history of religious intolerance (particularly fighting between Catholics and Protestants) pre-democracy, something which they tried to avoid with the republic. However, in contrast to the United States, France went to the extreme of trying to get rid of religion entirely to avoid the fighting, particularly under Robespierre and the Jacobins.
In 1905 the government passed a specific law regarding freedom of religion in France; more specifically, it discusses the separation of church and state. The very first section, 'Principles', sets out both guarantees of freedom of religion and non-establishment of any religion by the state.
Article 1Unlike the United States and Nepal, French law actually lays out the complete separation of religion from state, while still protecting people of all faiths from religious discrimination (France is over 80% Roman Catholic). In recent years, however, a new law has been put into place that is seen by many as fundamentally against the ideals of religious freedom and government non-interference. The text of the law, known commonly as Law on Secularity and Conspicuous Religious Behaviors and Symbols in Schools, is very short and reads as follows:
The Republic ensures freedom of conscience. It guarantees the free exercise of religion subject to the sole restrictions enacted hereafter in the interest of public order.
Article 2
The Republic does not recognize, remunerate or subsidize any religion. In consequence, starting on the 1st of January which follows the publication of this Law, all expenses concerning the practice of religion shall be abolished from the budgets of the State, Departments and municipal councils.
However, expenses related to the services of the chaplaincy and intended to ensure the free exercise of religion in public establishments such as secondary schools (lycées and collèges), and primary schools, hospitals, asylums and prisons, may be included in these budgets.
The public establishments of religion are abolished, subject to the conditions stipulated in Article 3.
In schools, colleges and public high schools, the wearing of signs or dress by which pupils overtly manifest a religious affiliation is prohibited.
The rules shall state that the implementation of a disciplinary procedure is preceded by a dialogue with the student.One of the largest discussions based on this law is that it is worded vaguely, leaving it up to interpretation what constitutes an 'overtly manifest' display of religious signs. That interpretation comes into play in the most recent, and most widely debated, issue of religious freedom in France.
Headscarf Ban
In 2004, the world's headlines went berserk after news broke announcing that France had banned the hijab in all schools across the country. The news stories were actually covering the passage of the Law on Secularity and Conspicuous Religious Behaviors and Symbols in Schools, which bans overtly manifested religious affiliation. As a result, the law actually bans much more, including Sikh turbans, Jewish caps and large Christian crosses, along with Islamic head coverings. While in theory the law applies to practitioners of all religions, the feeling of many across the world was that this was specifically targeted towards Muslims, feeding into anti-Islamic sentiments growing across the globe.
The controversy has been brewing for some time in France. In 2003, news came out that then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy had insisted that Muslim women remove their headscarves in order to have identity card photographs taken, while at the same time the Education Minister, Luc Ferry, sated that a ban on the headscarves could be unconstitutional. As has been seen by recent history, the ban did go into effect. While discussions were going on in December of that year, 3,000 protesters marched in Paris to protest the potential ban. Worldwide protests continued the following month.
The issues seem to run much deeper than just a desire to be completely secular. The US State Department made note in its 2005 Report on International Religious Freedom that "negative societal attitudes regarding the wearing of Muslim headscarves may have led to incidents of discrimination against Muslim women," also noting that Muslim women wearing headscarves have noted that they have been denied service at private businesses due to their appearance. The discrimination extends beyond Muslims, with the report saying that there were a number of both anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic incidents that occurred during the period covered by the report.
The impact of the 2004 ban was apparent after the first year of its implementation. By the end of the 2004-2005 school year in June, the Ministry of Education reported that 44 Muslim girls and 3 Sikh boys had been expelled from public school for violating the law. One Muslim group had reported that there were 806 girls affected by the law in various forms.
Human Rights Watch in February 2004 issued a report condemning the ban, stating that "The impact of a ban on visible religious symbols, even though phrased in neutral terms, will fall disproportionately on Muslim girls..." International legal restrictions should only occur in cases of public safety concerns, infringement on others' rights, or as a legitimate function of educational institutions, none of which were the case in France.
Media Representation
This case by far has had the most media attention of any human rights case involving the institution of religion worldwide. Various news organizations including BBC and CNN picked up the story, spreading it to new audiences. It also sparked many discussions online, in discussion boards, blogs, videos, etc. Searching 'french headscarf ban' on Google and YouTube bring up hundreds of web pages and videos, which debate, discuss, and explain the ban.
This video goes into a scholarly explanation of the religious situation in France, as well as a discussion on the tensions between French and North African Muslim immigrants in the country.
Other less-polished pieces are more personal, explaining the situation on an individual level. The video below uses simple song and images to explain the filmmaker's opinions on the subject.
Unsurprisingly, considering the worldwide backlash, there are very few videos in support of the ban. The few videos that do exist seem to be more generally anti-Islam than anything discussing the ban in specific, like this video posted on behalf of CBN News, a Christian news channel.
*Mary Ann Glendon, A World Made New, page 31
