1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State

The first page of the bill, as brought before the Chambre des Députés in 1905

The 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and State (French: Loi du 9 décembre 1905 concernant la séparation des Églises et de l'État) was voted by the Chamber of Deputies on 9 December, 1905. Passed by the Third Republic, it established state secularism in France. France was then governed by the Bloc des gauches (Left Coalition) led by Emile Combes.

The law was based on three principles: the neutrality of the state, the freedom of religious exercise, and public powers related to the church. This law is seen as the backbone of the French principle of laïcité. The law famously states "The Republic neither recognizes, nor salaries, nor subsidizes any religion".

History

See also: Religion in France

Although officially established through the 1905 law, the concept of state secularism in France is often traced to the French Revolution beginning in 1789. Before that time, Roman Catholicism had been the state religion of France. However, the revolution led to various changes, including a brief separation of Church and State in 1795, ended by Napoleon's establishment of the Church of France with the Concordat of 1801.^[1] An important document in the evolution toward religious liberty was the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, stating that...

Nevertheless, the French state continued to fund four official religions into the 20th century: Roman Catholicism, Calvinist and Lutheran Protestantism, and Judaism. It built churches, temples, synagogues and other religious buildings from taxes levied on the whole population (not just those affiliated with those religions).

The 1871 Paris Commune had proclaimed state secularism on April 3, 1871 ^[3], but it had been cancelled following its defeat.

After the May 16, 1877 crisis and the victory of the Republicans at the following elections, various draft laws requesting the suppression of the Concordat of 1801 were deposed, starting with Charles Boysset's July 31, 1879 proposition ^[4] Thereafter, the Third Republic established secular education with the Jules Ferry laws in 1881-82, which were one of the first base of the firm establishment of the Republican regime in France. In 1886, another law insured secularisation of the teaching staff of the National Education ^[4]. On July 30, 1904, the Chamber of Deputies voted, against Emile Combes' wish, the rupture of diplomatic relations with the Vatican, following the sanction, by the Holy See, of two French bishops who had declared themselves Republicans and in favor of conciliation with the Republic — they would be re-established only in 1921, after the Senate accepted to vote Aristide Briand's proposition ^[4].

Effects

The law put an end to the funding of religious groups. At the same time, it declared all religious buildings property of the state and local governments; the government puts such buildings at the disposal of religious organisation at no expense to these, provided that they continue to use the buildings for worship purposes.^{[citation needed]} Other articles of the law included prohibiting affixing religious signs on public buildings, and laying down that the Republic no longer names French archbishops or bishops (although this was modified in practise from 1926).

Because Alsace-Lorraine was at the time a part of the German Empire, the 1905 law, as well as some other pieces of legislation, did not — and still doesn't — apply there (see Alsace-Moselle). Similarly, the 1905 law did not extend to French Guiana, at the time a colony, and to this day the local government of French Guiana continues to fund Roman Catholicism. Another modification occurred when Aristide Briand subsequently negotiated the Briand-Ceretti Agreement with the Vatican whereby the state has a role in the process of choosing diocesan bishops.

Politics

The leading figures in the creation of the law were Aristide Briand, Émile Combes, Jean Jaurès and Francis de Pressens.

Initially, the Catholics were seriously affected, as the law declared churches property of the state and local governments. One point of friction is that public authorities had to hand over the buildings to religious organisations (associations cultuelles) representing laymen, instead of putting them directly under the supervision of the church hierarchy. This caused civil disobedience and even riots by Catholics. The Holy See urged Catholic priests to fight in the name of Catholicism. Pope Pius X issued the Vehementer Nos encyclical denouncing the law as contrary to the constitution of the church. It did, however, free the church from state control as well, since they could raise more funds than the modest amounts the state provided and they could choose their own bishops. This was not entirely new however since Catholics in the United States, Poland, and Ireland funded their churches without state support.

The law and its implementation at the beginning of the 20th century was controversed, mainly because of the current anti-clericalism founded among Republican supporters, who opposed Catholics who were recently initiating, with much reluctance, the process of rallying to the Republic, supported by Leo XIII's Inter innumeras sollicitudines 1892 encyclical (Au Milieu des sollicitudes) and the Cardinal Lavigerie's toast in 1890 favour of the Republic. However, it progressively became almost universally accepted among French citizens, including in the Roman Catholic Church, who saw in it a possibility of greater freedom from state ingerence in cultual matters.

However, recently a few politicians and communities have put the law in question, arguing that the law, despite its explicit stances in favour of state secularism, allegedly favoured de facto traditional French religions, in particular Roman Catholicism, at the expense of religions of more recent expansion in France, such as Islam: while most Catholic churches were built before 1905, and thus are maintained largely at the expense of the government, followers of Islam and other religions more recently implanted in France have to pay the full price of founding and maintaining religious facilities. This is one of the motives brought by Nicolas Sarkozy, when he was still Minister of Interior (and therefore also charged of the cults), to controversially argue in favour of funding other cultual centers than those of Catholicism, Protestantism and Judaism. ^[5]

The 1905 law, however, is often considered politically untouchable. Rivals of Sarkozy, such as Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin made a point that no change was foreseen to the law.^[6]

References

See also

• Concordat of 1801
• Catholic Church in France
• Briand-Ceretti Agreement
• French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools
• French legislation for the prevention and repression of cultic groups
• State secularism
• Law of December 9, 1905, concerning the separation of the Churches and the State from Wikisource (French)

External Links

• The deep roots of French secularism, article by Henri Astier on BBC News online, Sept 1st, 2004
• The Secular Principle by Jean Baubérot
• One Hundred Years of French Secularism by Mélina Gazsi
• (French) Dossier from the French National Assembly
• 100th Anniversary of Secularism in France, Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life.
• updated official version from Légifrance (French)
• Délibérations sur le projet de loi et les propositions de loi concernant la séparation des Eglises et de l'Etat by the retired journalist Claude Ovtcharenko (including all parliamentary sessions, Emile Combes' 1904 speech, chronology, etc.) (French)

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